Yuri

For those of you who remember Yuri /Yura Vasuk , he was Baptized last Sat in Kiev. He thanks all " the good examples" that have been apart of his life. Of all the people I meet in Ukraine he was the kindest and most honest so I am excited to see this blessing in his life!

Baptism

Daniel will be baptized Sat  29 at 4pm Nephi North stake center 1125 N 400 E please join us if you can!!

Tax audit

I am sitting in front of the computer copying and looking up  receipts as the IRS is requiring  this  of us. Anybody having the same Joy?

Vacation

We have come to Phoenix AZ for the oldest grandchild HS graduation. the first 24 hour have been pretty wonderful. Of course there are less boundaries to push against so life is nice for the time being...Yea! We all need it!

Why blogging decreases post adoptions!

I do see a couple of mom blog post adoption regularly. but must of us do not. I understand now why we do not! We are running around like crazy women and honestly barring Dear Stephanie we do not really want to record all the heart ache. Though someday we will actually laugh about the day the child was expelled form school for running around on the roof and worse of all not coming down when his teacher or even the Principal ask. . Or the fact some week David or I are at the school to sit through a day with a misbehaving child. One mom was horrified when I admitting I am not forcing him to brush his teeth or bath every day or even eat breakfast. We are concentrating on respect for other especially teachers and Principals. respecting other property  and no hurting others. We are making great improvement in respecting  others'   things  (especially stores) .  We as parents are making great strides to give praise for all the the good (or some days finding a couple good things to praise! Yes we are grateful if things go well 60 to 70 percent of the time! We pray he is learning to trust. We are happy the days he will actually look us in the eyes; happy when he talks in English to us and happy when he spontaneity give affection!

footnote to Blog

Guess who got to spend a 1/2 hour in school with a misbehaving child? Well the morning was good

Moments of Sweetness

Because there has been so much painful and negative emotion in their life your interaction with a child with RAD  is often painful or at least hard. so when it is good it is actually exquisite in the joy. I had anticipated a rough morning as Daniel and Dannalee had school but all the Jr high and High did not so it was only two I was getting up and out the door ( and it and been an unusually late night from a church activity) Back to the story. Daniel did every thing I ask and even did responsibilities  without being ask.  With so many thorns I am thankful for these sweet and good rosy moments!

The miracles continue

We have been home home almost 3 weeks now. After the first week  we felt our family boat was swamped and almost capsized when we realized how bad Daniel's RAD was. We have found a counselor who has worked with severe RAD kids and post adoption. and no she does not speak Russian bur her husband does! she gave me a Book "Transforming the difficult child"  and WOW It is a life saver and the life we pray to save is Daniel. Yes, my heart still sink when I see the Principal on my caller ID, but I am really pleased  with the improvement already. What I am the the most pleased with is how the Lord has changed my heart to think different with Daniel and the patience and understand in my heart. I am not sure which the greater miracle the improvement we see in him or the change in my heart! ( probably the change in my heart because I know Daniel progress is  the baby steps forward and sometime leaps backwards!) The other children are adjusting also, at first there was some anger at the major changes in our home due to Daniel.( Or just his anger rubbing off)  Then my sweet Ilia regression to more orphanage behavior Yikes! But a couple of sick day with Mom attention 24/7 he seems back on track too.  The boat is righting itself and we are moving ahead again!

Overwhelmed.

Why do we start life with these kids so tired from our jet lag and then try to help them adjust to this life altering change.I vacillate between grateful and amazed at how well Lydia and Ilia are dong and how they give me hope when I remember the rough first few weeks with them were. On the other hand I am just OVERWHELMED with Daniel's very hard transition. We so knew he would be harder and we thought we where prepared. NOT! It is so hard to find the delicate balance of showing them love and positive attention and then keeping then on track with the critical  thing they have to do and change. Like not touching other property, washing hand so the whole family does get sick. Yes he is welcome to snack and have the bananas and apples but then need to eat dinner with family. He need to respond to me when I ask him to come, stop, etc. So in the mean time the kids are all getting  locks on their doors or boxes to lock their stuff in until he can learn to trust and heal and be taught different coping mechanics! So does anyone know a Russian speaking counselor or do we just work on language,  love, and trust until his English is enough for an English speaking counselor?
I want to end on a positive note. Lydia and I were talking about Daniel's hard time and she said " Yes it was hard and we were bad when we first got here but then we found God and changed!"
Please Lord help us all change!

Run away!

Friday was one of those rough adjusting day !We took Birth certificates etc to get Daniel enrolled in school
 6 th grade. We talked with the principal he stated he would talk with the Superintendent  as Daniel is 13 . He calls me back and say the superintendent believe he should be in 7 so I call him and ask him to met with with Daniel and I . He goes on about how  kids drop out of high school when are  not age appropriate. I ask him to look he looks and behaves like a 10 year old and then and after I have Daniel leave, I  explain Daniel has been in 6 grade in Ukraine, that he is developmentally  more where my 10 year old is not where his 13/14 also adopted siblings are. I explain he is used a class size of 12 with same teacher all day and that he has been at the bottom of the food chain. I will not throw him into JR High to be at the bottom again. Lastly Ilia is doing wonderful but putting the two together may bring out some orphanage behavior..  I don't know if I convinced him or my last line was I would rather home school him than put him in the jungle of Jr high.I did promise to evaluate in 6 months or a year if we would advance him to age appropriate class (  I will be glad to if he has grown up that much in the next year.)
So has any one experience the long term effect of keeping these adopted kids back? My second Daughter had a Aug 25th Birthday I did not send her to school until she was 6 and I NEVER regretted  it!

I am sure he sensed my tension. after the meeting Then we go for a haircut I made a big mistake of not asking him through Lydia or Ilia what he wanted. so it was too short on top and note short enough on the sides so now I have a  pouting,  mumbling child. We get home and he takes off on the Bike before I can say anything Yes he has been with Ilia on the paper route but not off himself. I go to my bike to go with him and it is flat. then I get a phone call from the YW president. I was call to 1st counselor the week I left for Ukraine (guilt guilt) we talked as  I am  watching for him to come back. After  20 min I get in the car to go looking for him, spend another 20 looking for him when I get a call from the Jr high he has gone there I assume to find his siblings. I find him playing basket ball with the coach who tells me he had been riding his bike around the track watching. Of course when he does not respond when yelled at to get off the track when they realize he does not speak English. the put it together who he belong to and call me. The coach tell me he can stay and have PE with the kids ( Not my kids another class) I say no we are not rewarding him. I tell  him Ilia ran away on me the first week he was home. He was surprised, the coach loves Ilia.
We go shopping for clothe so the evening was good until we got home I I tried to explain  to Daniel through translation not to leave like that with out telling me and to stop swearing! I actually  said it firm but nice I had waited hours to calm down. Well he he is upset and tries to stomp down stairs  before prayer ( maybe we should have prayed before the lecture. Well I called him back a little sharply.  Lydia tells me after he was really cussing about having  to pray.  So I go to sleep praying  we can teach him to be grateful for prays , that is why he he is here and why he has what he has. It funny it like giving Birth you forget how hard it is until you are going though it again thinking , Why did I do this again!

Tender mercies!

As I stated in my last blog, I meet a mom flying on the same flight with me at least to chiocago. In the Kiev airport we also met up with the Roaches ( an elder couple missionary who have a  part in the story because it was from their apt Yura would  translate when we Skyped Daniel. There was also  a sister missionary I had met in Zap last trip and then in Dnipro. So we all got on plane to Frankfurt.  Little Vaila did not do so well the first leg and was biting and hitting her mom.Obvious first plane ride. Well as we all had 3+ hours in Frankfurt we all hung together. Daniel was an angel with Valia playing balloons with her, giving her ride chasing her down for us. ( she is moves well for having CP. The sister missionary was telling me how sweet he was talking to her. We separated from the missionary as we left. I confess we medicated Valia for the next flight. She slept  a while when as we where sitting 4 rows behind with a empty seat beside us the last few hours she sat with Daniel and me. The descent was the hardest I have ever had. They had fed us spicy food the last hour the cabin temp and really hot and then a really bumping descent. I personally was trying not to toss my cookies.As I glanced around the cabin people where grabbing those little white bags. I am fanning myself Daniel is fanning himself and Valia and with the other hand they are hold each other very tight. So sweet! Laura and I had to separate in Chicago but  not without realizing how wonderful the Lord is to help his children out!
  If course getting into Salt  Lake was wonderful to see my family ( Ilia was the first to my side again for hugs and kisses! Thanks to all of you for coming to welcome us home!

Last day in Kiev!

I love meeting other Families who are adopting! I met a mom at the medical appt with a darling five year old with mild CP . We are flying out together (tender mercy). Then at the embassy I  ran in a mom I met at our SDA  appt. We met up for McDonalds tonight. I have spent 20 min trying to download a pictures with no luck I know this is easy for  most of your I just struggle with a computer! Check back in a few day and I will have  pics! ( When I get home and have Derrick help me!)  One interesting note every thing is taking more time  court dates, tax Id's, passport but the good new is the new Embassy, it is soooo Fast my first appt took 15 min. Today it only took 30 min and I walked out with a VISA!!!

Flight Info

OK Flight info:
United Airline flight 5322 From Chicago O'Hara  @ 8 27 pm

Hallelujah!

Passports are in Yana hands and Yura will make sure they are on the Train!!!!!!! Second embassy appt Tomorrow and as soon as someone is awake on the east coast  I will order ticket to be home WED!!!

Sunday March 4 2012

Thank heavens for Sunday to refill our empty buckets! /we rode the bus and found our way to church Yura went over it last night so we could find our way! The missionaries had a 20ish young man come sit by Daniel and talk to him.( he is too shy with the missionaries) This young man was able to get him to open up and then explained hymns and what was going to happen today. Daniel even SANG!  I was so
grateful to this good brother to help Daniel out ( he even let him play is PSP between meetings) We will  feed missionaries today then pack for the train. We are on the home stretch!

First day on our own!

First day on our own

Well it is only noon and I am not sure what to do with my pouty son. We walked to a little mall played air hokey which he loved but then walked into a toy store.  BIG MISTAKE!   As with Ilia and Lydia I promised some much money for a memento to talk back to home.  ( example Lydia bought a real silver ring and Ilia an Ukrainian soccer outfit) Daniel is looking at remote control cars and play guns. I call Yura to explain to him we cannot take play guns on the plane and the remote cars are too big for our   2 suitcases. I also try to explain as we missed his B-day by a week we will celebrate  at home and then those kind of things can be his. But he keeps telling Yura he cannot hear him. So when we walk to the grocery store he is pouting will not help me pick out what he wants for lunch or even a treat. I love it when people cut off their nose to spite their face. He is usually really quite but on the walk home he is muttering to himself. I have been through this before I can tell when they are angry at me and  talking out loud in Russian to themselves or each other!  Usually I can laugh, glad I cannot understand so I do not get upset but today I am too tired!  

Please pray that our Passport are issued Monday we are going to Kiev tomorrow night anyway to keep our first embassy apt and then the Passports need to show up on the Tues train so we can finish and be home Wed night!

Leaving Nikapol

Well it was a cool last day. There was a festival at the school. So we watch students and teachers perform from 3 schools, one of the school was for physically/mentally impaired. It was a great show. Our school (Nikapol) was of course the best! It was good to see a few of the children work hard and really succeed at Dance/song/ band. I was thrilled to see Toma Kola form the old Orphanage in the Band!

We finally left for Dnipro about 1 pm.  We will spend a couple of day here. We had hoped to pick up the passports today but have to wait until Monday. We will actually do our first embassy appt n Kiev and then the passports will be sent on the train to us for Tue Appt. We are praying to leave for home Wed morning!

As I unpacked tonight I about gagged. These shoes that have been worn by so  many boys they stink! I wish they had been truly give as a gift then they could have stayed. But where they had been taken by force and Yura and I agreed they should be return to the owner who received  them as his first B-day present in who know how long! It is interesting. The boy who “took” the shoes has really been hanging around and when we had the “party” and Daniel invited his friends he did not invite him. Now I know why He was always hanging around to know what had been given. ( I had felt bad he had seen me give gifts to the “friends” then he was there when I gave gifts to his 3 roommates so I made a 3rd trip to the store to make him a gift  ( well maybe that was his first gift received by a person giving willing and freely) The whole interdepended relationship  with the orphanage is so mest up. I know there are some good and sweet friendships but honestly a lot of unhealthy ones!

                         Well now we are on our own for a couple of day we see how we do!

Friday March 2

We are leaving the Orphanage today for good. I am happy sad and angry. Angry as last night when  I told Daniel to Pack there was nothing, no gifts no shoes etc I have given him. Actually if they had been give freely I do not care. but I learned this morning the shoes especially had been given at "force" Because of the way they where given I am glad they are back Thanks to Yura ( They stink though after so much sharing!) oh well I pack them any way. Sad because I am leaving too many children I love so much. Yura and I spent hours setting up email accounts and stamps, addresses so they can choose to stay in touch. Happy to be closer to going home and to be able to take one more child from this life!

Wed Feb 29 2012

Well today I met Daniel’s Godparents.  They showed up last weekend when they heard Daniel was leaving and again yesterday. I was told after they left. I assured the Director I did want to meet them so they made a third trip today. They were a young couple late thirties early forties. They told me they had held him when he was baptized. They are friends of Daniel ‘s father and uncle. He was born in Moscow His mother is Russian,  his father from this region.  After returning to this area his mother left the father , with Daniel  and took a half and step sister. The father was/is a horrible drinker. But it was reported he has been sober for a year. He left to St. Petersburg to make money to return to adopt him. It has been the Uncle who has visited him here.  The Uncle is also now in St Petersburg. Then we showed up to adopt him.  I gave them a family picture with email and address so the father can make contact. They stated they felt better after meeting me. They gave Daniel a cross to wear and  with tears and hug  him and me  goodbye.

Monday Feb.27

Monday  Feb 27

So my day started at 3 am, when the train car I was riding in was soooo hot I could not sleep any longer.

Yura met me at 7am and we were off orphanage. As we drove up to the orphanage I realized I was giddy with excitement! I had this fantasy of running up to Daniel classroom and hugging him in front of his whole class! Lucky for him the Director just called him the office. He did actually hug back this time!

So then we are off running first to notary office, then apply at local  office for Passport, now back to the orphanage for more signatures, lunch and then back into the car to drive 2+ hours  back to Dnopri for district passport office where the passport is actually issued from then the ride back was almost 4 hour as we dropped Yana at home in Zap.
One thing I did not think about was the Roads over here! We worried about the Plane ride post surgery but We TOTALLy forgot about the Bumpy roads! OUCH! Finally we arrived back at 10 pm the orphanage had dinner waiting for us. Daniel was good all day! I am loving he is finally hugging me back! 

Back to Ukraine!

 Well I am sitting in an airport waiting for a couple more hours before I head back to Ukraine to finish the adoption of Daniel. Two years ago I never would have believed how different  my, and my family life is!

For ten years I have waited, believed there was a  boy, a son waiting to come to our home! But I wanted to do it my way. I wanted to have the child biologically.  I did not want to adopt. When 5 years ago I had to face the fact it was adoption that was going to bring this child to our home I still put a condition to that      I WOULD NOT adopt from a Slavic country. ( I am not kidding I said those actually word to my husband!) The lord was patient  he waited 3 more years and after our home burned down and I was  I guess a lot more teachable. My heart was finally open to adopt not only  that little boy but two more children as well.

 . My heart was so full Thursday night when we had a translator and the missionary over to teach and see If Ilia was ready to receive the Priesthood. It was amazing to realize how far we have come. Yes, we had a translator  there but. I realized it had been almost 2 months since we had needed a translator  on a regular basis! The children were so quiet and listening so carefully. They even admitted to would be easier now to read their scripture in English not Russian!  Ilia is eager and excited to receive the priesthood.. He was so tender this morning as he made me wake him up to say good bye at 4 am this morning as he hugged me goodbye he said “mom I love you so much”. Lydia and Ilia are a cool/wonderful bonus as I have waited for this last child.

Of course because I am female I worry about this last child will he be as easy of  a transition. If is funny both David and I knew in our heart this child was “special needs” But What I imagined as  special needs is a different kind of special need . I imagine a child with Mental or Physical challenges but what we received were children with  Cultural and language , and spiritual needs. Life is good, we are happy!

So Here I sit to waiting to make this last trip to bring Daniel home!

Kiev

Back in kiev!

Keiv Airport

Yes I am  finally writing a week later! We had a bizarre experience at the airport.We were sitting there and we heard a man yelling" Is there any Americans  in the airport?"  we responded "yes" and a large black man told us he needed our help. he stated they would not let him through Passport control. His passport was a replacement for a lost passport ( it stated that inside, but the big issue is it was missing pages 13- 16 ) we explained we did not speak Russian and would not be much help. I offered to call a lawyer who could translate but he declined. He did find an Armenian woman  who  spoke both English and Russian.. so we started upstairs with him to security and passport control. At security. the woman tried to talk to security. but the man was insisted we all go through security together. He keep saying us American  should stick together. I started getting very negative vibes and would not go through with him. Then he asked for our name and # so his family could "thank us for not helping him". we said" no but if you have family we can contact we will" he just called us racist  ( which he had been calling the Ukrainians the whole time) and finally left. .. It was an unsettling ordeal. after both David and I wish we had really looked at the name in the passport. .. We where glad when we landed in Paris. We did talk with there security there about the situation. PS Yes he spoke like an American and was tattooed like an American. but his front teeth were gold and David said one of is tattoos was Muslim.

  David was suppose to fly out today but about 12 hours after we bought his ticket we got an email about the Tax Id # taking up to 2 weeks to get.  So we canceled his ticket and are waiting to hear.

court sucess

Well it was a long and cold court! Two hours! The judge even sent Daniel out of the court room, to warm up.  I was OK with all the question about why we wanted more children, why we did not adopt him when we were here before, did we make enough money blah, blah, It only got dicey when it was finally touched on that some "man" had visited him at both Orphanage  was brought up .( the following I did not know before) That when this man heard through the grape vine some Americans wanted to adopt he  did ask for the paper work to begin adopting in Dec. and then has not shown up again since. Not only was the Inspector  there, but a man from the district level of social service. They both brought up his man has had 6 year to establish his right as the Father ( it is assumed he is the father) but he is not listed on the birth certificate! Because Daniel was abandoned at 7 they ( social service had to create a birth certificate with what limited info the  7 year old could give them.)  Social  service did know this man's home was the home he had lived in at the time of his abandonment, but he was highly neglected in that home. Finally the judge ask if Daniel knew this man's name Daniel said "no I only called him uncle " and "I told him I wanted to go the America ." (I do not know if Daniel was coach to say this ) So finally after 2 long cold hours Daniel John Mosteller was made our son!

YES there will be court!

Why is there always so much drama with these Adoption???? We did not know for sure until 2pm today we would have court tomorrow! The right paper finally got the right stample ect. ect. That paper is then put on the train from Kiev to be here! So court, then the 2 day process to get back home!

Tues

Well Tues is almost over and we have not heard for positive that our court date is Friday! We are trying to be positive that it will because we booked train tickets and our room in Paris for the flight home.
As I sit here I just realized Daniel does not know we will be leaving him for a couple of weeks  in 3 days. this is because they told us not to tell him about the court date until the night before to keep his dad from finding out. This whole thing is hard for me I keep trying to tell myself he has had 7 years to come get him. And the first adoption cost me a computer to appease a family member. Keep Praying!

Sunday

Ok I have a confession I HATE WRITING BLOGS! I write them because I know how much all your blogs mean to me. It is a journey we all share together and need each other. This is the Second time I have wrote this blog! I have a way of having computer problems and then losing my work Ugh!

So Sunday we decided to do the 120 k to Dnepro to Church! It was good to see another Utah Family and some missionaries I had met in Zap. We had to wait 45 min for our driver after church and got chilled to the bone! It took most  of the night to warm up!  The hard part of the day is Daniel was not allowed to come with us so we spent 8 hours we could have had with him and maybe some of the other children away . We had some struggles with him Sunday night. At first David and I were a little peeved with him but as I  was sitting there calmly listening to the sound of Sunday on line I had a thought of what was waiting for Daniel upstairs when he left us, and how he may have felt with us leaving him all day and why he was doing what he was doing. It still needs to be dealt with but at least I have understanding and when we have a translator we can calmly deal with it.
 We got to skype home, I guess because there are more children to miss this trip I am more homesick!

Friday!

So we have been a week in Nikapol! The wind has stop so we do go outside alittle in the middle of
the day! Last night we took balloons and played volleyball in the very large  room in the orphanage  upstairs between the classrooms. It felt good to run about! Daniel is a fast runner. It makes me wonder if all the abuse in the first orphanage taught him to be fast. We were loud hoping to attract some other kids but they are not really allow in this part of the building at night, so we will have to wait for the weekend they seems to have more freedom to see us! remember we are skyping Sat. at 8 am Utah time with children from the old orpahnge so email me if you want to join!

No internet

We are alive ! We just have not had internet. The Director is allowing us to use his computer right now!  We have a court day for the 10th providing Interpol send it's clearance  apparently it has been taking up to 45 day for this   We have a would have to come back so we are praying hard. I do feel it  will  work out fine Just add your prays to ours!    Our days are too long as we wait for Daniel to get out of school.  It is so cold here they have closed pubic schools. because the children live at their school their  is not canceled. We have cabin fever pretty bad!  We have finally seen some of our friends from our previous trip! We have been ask not to invite  them into our apt. so we have to stand in the cold halls to visit!

Opposites

   How different this trip is from last trip! The most obvious is the weather first from so hot to so cold, I used to say I liked cold better than hot but that was before Ukrainian cold.  I lost almost 20 lbs. the first trip as in the first orphanage with no fridge, no microwave, or oven and the closest market was a ¼ the size of 7-11. This orphanage feeds us 3 times a day . Thank heaven for this opposite, we have hot water in this orphanage!  This summer we spent hours and days on the road to the inspector, the court, and the orphanage. Now so far everything is within a 10 mile radius! Because of the closing of the first orphan we had 24/7 with Lydia and Ilia which had it pro and cons sometimes we got on each other nerves, with not enough to do and no private space. Now we get 3-4 hours and day and the weekends with Daniel which because of the cold weather I am glad of as it is too cold to go outside much. I do miss from my first trip all the time with all of the kids. Sunday we got to spend a few hours with 4 of our old friends! We have seen a few more in passing. But there are more I am dying to wrap my arms around! We are treated like royalty by the Director and his wife. Last time I was lectured weekly by the Director. Yup very different trips!

all day with Daniel

All day with Daniel

Yesterday we got the Traditional picture of Ehar writing his letter for court to be adopted! His name is now Daniel John Mosteller! He did not want to keep his Ukraine name as like Lydia and Ilia did which is fine as I do not want him to revert back to his Ukraine name as Lydia and Ilia did. In my mind he has been Daniel for 10 years so he is stuck with it He is getting used to the name change. By playing cards we say his name over and over.

Today we bundled up and went outside for a walk so Yura could oriented us to the town so we can survive without him and Yana! We moved apt as the first was too cold. I am trying to limit computer time with Daniel and Dannalee,. When they paly I am entertained just watching him,his beautiful face and gestures.   We worked on English , I am surprised how well he is doing. He has really work with the English classes here and I can tell.  It was always pulling teeth to get Lydia and Ilia to work on English.  Of course I know they knew more than they let on!

SKYPE

Any of you families who hosted from the RED orphanage are being given a rare and wonderful opportunity! The director of this Nikapol orphanage ( where our children's friend now live) is working out detail where  on one Sat morning a month we we be allow to pick a few friends a to allow our children to skype with. We will attempt this next sat morning at 8 am Utah time.  The hope is to allow the children left here to create life line for their futures, keep friendships to give them hope, or examples, etc. Please let me know if you want to participate!

Nikapol

   We are here in Nikapol.We got in on the train yesterday morning. Yana the miracle worker got us to the inspectors’ office and then our meeting with the director by 11 we were finally seeing Eghar.   Oh, he looks so good and he was all smiles. We went through the very serious questions by the director did he very want to be adopted.  “da” Had he been coerced into this “ no his free will to be adopted”… So with three witnesses. The director, the deputy director, and the lawyer from the orphanage we are ready to roll with the legal process!

   We are staying in a little apt on the back of the orphanage and Eghar will be allowed to come to us from 5 to 8:30 every night!  It was a long wait for 5pm.

We played Uno, gave gifts, and tried jacks, tossed a ball, a 15 min English lesson and then we finally let Dannalee and Ehar on the computer for ½ hour.   I wish we had some decent   weather.  -5 C with 40 miles wind in this humid country it is cold.  So we are stuck in a 12’x 20 room.

  Today we got the traditional letter by Eghar choosing to be adopted so we took our traditional picture of him writing it.  We went shopping for supplies and now have the wait until Eghar is released to us. We have one kindle and one computer so someone is always left to day dream! Usually it is me but I grabbed the computer first! 

David’s Input:  We haven’t had the chance to interact with any of the other children from our previous Ukrainian experience. We did see Nastia, and Anna, Valla, Derrick’s friend Slavic as they were passing some distance away between classes.  The director is I believe a man with a good heart and the sincere desire for ­­all the children’s welfare and doesn’t want the others schedules and tranquility disturbed because of one child’s possible adoption  He  has experienced with another country that some  possible adoptive parents have “spoiled”, “pampered”, “disappointed” children and then not adopted causing problems with many of the kids. The result being that we are  minding our P&Q  for future adoptions for American families.  We want this to be a good experience for every one so that others who follow will find the way smooth, 

Meeting the Americans

(by Dannalee)( mom=Debbie)(papa= David)(Junker= family) (brenna=9 year old girl/friend)                                                                                             We were walking back to the apartment and mom noticed a non-Russian looking Family she said hello.
we talked for a few minutes and decided to meet at McDonalds around seven. They had a nine year old daughter we soon became friends . Mom and Papa learned that I could go with but the Junkers said I could go to there apartment during the SDA appointment . We decided to let me go . The ladies switch Skype, e-mail,and numbers so we could contact each other. it was an amazing experience.
  
  

SDA 1/24/12

Well, we walked through the slush to our SDA  appointment. Funny we walked in the street some of the time as it is safer than the sidewalks with the huge icicles trying to impale you from these flat building tops.
  As always  there are surprises to learn about your child. some positive, some not. Positive we had been told Ehar was born in Moscow  (maybe he was) but because he was abandoned around Nikapol region his Birth certificate was registered there, it will be easy and so less costly to obtain! Negative, He has been in a institutional his whole life and "has psychological promblems" that go with that! Thurs morning we will be in Nikapol !

paris!

Starting round two of adopting! We got to spend the afternoon in Paris! It almost seems wrong to be sight seeing before we accomplish our mission but you must take the opportunity when it comes!  It is the city of LOVE, and beautiful people!
We're in Kiev today and in bad need of sleep. Jet lag !  We had computer problems getting internet. We're in the same place we started our first trip but there is snow outside. SDA tomorrow and we are told changes with Interpole having big delays so we need those prayers as Always.

Taxes

So I was talking with my CPA , and he was asking me if the Ukrainian side of the adoption is final enough to count the children. Does anyone know more? How many of you have done the " American readoption"

OH MY GOSH!

So after going through the dispiontment of not getting a SDA date before the end of the year. I get a message today SDA date Jan 24! How cold is cold there?