The Last Bell

Most of today's blog is forwarding a letter from a ministry we met while in Ukraine called Last Bell Ministries.  While high school graduations abound for our kids here in the US and it's a very exciting time to be celebrated, it is quite another thing for orphans in Ukraine.  They graduate out of the school orphanage system upon completion of the 9th grade and then are on their own.  The failure rate for these graduating orphans is 90%, meaning 9 out of 10 will end up in prison, prostitution or suicide.  Last Bell is one of the ministries that takes in kids in a halfway house type of environment to try and help them prepare for adult life.  They have a Facebook page also which you should check out, it has videos of kids talking about hoping to get to go to their houses, which need financial support to be completed and operated (hint, hint.... :)  It is very hard to watch those videos as we got to know these kids at the orphanage while we were there for Kayleigh and Michael (Kayleigh was the one kid out of the graduating class to be adopted....).  They're good kids and have a lot of potential and saddens us greatly that they have little hope without a helping hand at this point.  Please consider supporting this ministry :)

Dear Friends,

Just like Paul, who heard about the Ephesians' faith and “love for God's people everywhere,” we have heard about your adoption of orphaned children and know that you have hearts full of compassion. And we give thanks, as Paul did, for the way you have answered God's call to care for the motherless and fatherless.

As you know, there are still many children at those orphanages, including Orphanage No. 4 in Zhytomyr where Last Bell Ministries has worked for several years. These children need your help.

Even though they have not been adopted, the kids at Orphanage No. 4 and in the Zhytomyr region have a chance to be part of a family, to learn and grow, to have a good future. The staff at Last Bell invite each graduating class at No. 4 to be “sons and daughters” at either Shelter or Haven, our two family homes. We have loved and cared for over a hundred teens as they made the transition from the orphanage to independent life.

Up until now, Last Bell's kids lived at their trade school dorms while visiting Shelter or Haven during the evenings and on weekends. But this is all changing.

The Shelter home is undergoing renovation right now. This summer we plan to take guardianship of up to 15 of the 8^th and 9^th graders from the Orphanage No. 4, which is closing on June 1st. All of the kids will otherwise be sent to orphanages in Berdichev and Radumishl, and will eventually attend rural trade schools, with little chance of receiving higher education or learning a trade they can actually use.

But those who come under our guardianship will be able to live at the Shelter under the direct care of Last Bell houseparents. They will be able to attend a regular high school, spend their last few teen years in a loving, caring family, and hear about the love of Jesus Christ every day.

This will only happen if we can complete the renovation of the Shelter. The government officials need to see where the kids will be able to live before they grant us guardianship.

The cost of renovating the Shelter plus other preparations is $65,550. This includes the constrution of an entire third story with bedrooms and bathrooms for the girls and single housemom; boys and houseparent couple have bedrooms on the second floor. The cost also includes a new roof, a new heating system and water boiler, the addition of an entryway, and the conversion of the current entryway into a living room.

Will you partner with us in providing a home for kids from Orphanage No. 4?

Many generous friends and churches have given or pledged $30,723 toward the Shelter Renovation fund. But we still need $34,827 in order to complete the Shelter and get guardianship of kids before the end of the summer.

You can give online by going to our website, www.lastbell.org, and clicking on “Your Response.” Or you can give via post by writing a check to Last Bell Ministries and mailing it to:

Last Bell Ministries
PO Box 247
Atlanta, IN 46031-0247

Thank you in advance for your generosity, and may God bless you as you continue serving Him!

Liz Millikan, Director
Last Bell Ministries

info@lastbell.org
www.lastbell.org

You can share this letter by forwarding the email, or by printing the attached PDF.

Want to learn more? Here are some of our newsletters that cover our plans to care for the 8^th and 9^th graders:

Special Update: Roof Comes Off, Shelter Renovation Begins

“Because we're like family”: Tanya and Yulia share about 8th graders

Orphanage No. 4 closing, but Last Bell will be busier than ever

100

This is our 100th entry in our adoption blog!  Virtual cake for everyone!  It has been an amazing journey so far, with the blog beginning several months ago when we were first starting all the preparation to adopt Kayleigh & Michael, to now where the adoption has been completed (Michael's US citizenship paper arrived in today's mail, Kayleigh will have to go say a thing to get hers as she's over 14...) and the kids have been on American soil for 20 days as part of the Tansey family.  I continue to be amazed at God's work in the whole thing, and enjoy hearing so many people tell us how much they enjoy following our adventure.  Last time I checked we have people in 8 countries following the blog!

Now that we're home, the adventure begins in earnest as we begin to get to know and raise two new teenage family members mid-stream in teenagerdom.  So far this has gone so very well, far beyond any expectations we would have had.  The language gap continues to not be much of an issue (we can use google translate on more complicated stuff, but some things will just have to wait for now.....), they pitch in and help around the house, both have jumped on learning english and some other basic schoolwork (Kayleigh was using translate to figure out directions on math today and working with Alyssa....).  Michael tried out karate class last night and seemed to really enjoy it, and is already asking when the next class is....).   Both kids still get along amazingly well with our original three.  Both K & M sleep and eat a lot, seems like they are unwinding from 4 years in the orphanage system.  Michael still won't touch mushrooms.  I like Pop Tarts (just threw that in for fun....  but it's true!).  Michael follows Dylan around pretty much all the time and we can tell he is totally digging have a cool older brother.  Dylan is totally digging having a brother.  They get along great.  Kayleigh and Alyssa are still pretty much inseparable, they have bunk beds but share the larger bed on the bottom.  Kayleigh spent the day in a large t-shirt, when we asked Alyssa why she hadn't changed today, she explained that she had told her about getting to wear "Daddy" shirts (Alyssa likes to sleep in my t-shirts), so Kayleigh wore it all day (that was cool...).  Michael likes wearing sporty clothes, he is very, very active and athletically talented.

We still have the privilege of parenting our original three kids as well through all of this, and they have been nothing short of stellarly awesomeness :)  Not only did our new kids get a Mom and DAd, they got the bestest brother and sisters on the planet!  Our lives keep pluggin along as well, with   Dylan and I completing our candidacy for black belt in Tae Kwon Do (show is on June 16th in San Marcos, come and watch us get our belts :), Alyssa had her first dance recital and did awesome.  Bekah is getting ready for the start of volleyball season, and started her first job working for a family doing all sorts of stuff.  She is going to buy me Starbucks which is good :) 

OK, that's enough for today!  Thank you again and again to all who have prayed for and supported our adoption, we are so thankful for your partnership in this great adventure.  There is still plenty to pray for as 1) we're still at the relative beginning of our journey and 2) prayers for the rest of their classmates back in Ukraine.  The orphanage we adopted them from has closed and the kids were moved today to two other orphanages in the area.  This will be very difficult for them as they work into their new environments, contacts from past adoptions are lost, and another hard day for kids who are already living in a terrible situation to begin with: no family!

A Day Of Rest

We're just taking it easy today as a family.  Had a lot of fun the past couple days doing some housework (ok, that wasn't the fun part....), and spending time with friends.  The Fab 5 did a lot of swimming and hanging out with friends.  Our family is still in the process of decompressing from our adoption adventure, and the daily adjustment to having our two new kids.  Each day is a step forward in establishing routines, adding a task, walking forward in the process of learning a new language, making new American friends.  So far everything seems to be going so well!  Today we'll take it easy during the day, then the kids have boys and girls sleepovers planned for this evening.  We'll crank up the grill and enjoy our family.  It still is kind of surreal to look at these kids, how their whole world has changed in the past few weeks, and how God seems to have given them peace in the whole thing as they've done amazingly well :)

Thursday!

LOL, Thursday is a running inside joke from karate class :)  Thursday was another "normal" day in our new household, we did a lot around the house getting it put back together.  Before we left for Ukraine we were building our gameroom into a 5th bedroom (thanks Steve!) and moving bedrooms around preparing for Kayleigh and Michael.  We were also packing for our anticipated 33 day trip (ended up being 47 days, glad I brought extra undies....).  We got partially done.  So the house was pretty tripped out when we got back.  Each day has been a new day in seeing where we are at as a family, what do add back into our daily mix, and what to add new to K & M.  So we ended up getting a lot of household stuff done (Jodi and I had to argue about it first, as Thursday is amongst many things, our official argument day.  If we're gonna argue, it's gonna be on a Thursday :)  Then we got a lot done.  We're doing a lot of tag teaming up K & M with our kids so they can have someone to model and follow as they learn their new family and all the moving pieces.  Kayleigh jumped in with Alyssa and did a ton.  Michael teamed up with Dylan and did well, but is not as interested in chores (13 year old boy so not really a surprise!).  Dylan and I went to karate class for a bit as we start adding that back into our routine, then home for dinner (K & M like doing dinner as a family....).  The girls had a friend over for a sleepover which they did in the tent in the backyard (perhaps next time they'll set the tent up farther away from the septic tank sprinklers....), the boys camped out on the trampoline.  So far we continue to be amazed at how well Kayleigh and Mike have jumped in and are adapting to their new world.  Both are learning and using new english words each day.  No big blowups or I want to go back.  God is at work!

Lets Try This. And This...

The past couple days have been pretty "normal" we would say, but to two new kids in our world, lots of firsts.  Both Kayleigh and Michael have started on the Rosetta Stone course for english and have actually put a lot of time into it, so much that we're going to put limits on it so they don't burn out on it.  Both kids seem to have the desire to get up to speed on their new language quickly which is great!  Michael went with Dylan and I to Dylan's cross country running group on Tuesday and they ran close to 4 miles by the time it was done.  Dylan breezed through it as he's a natural runner and in good shape, Michael did very well for a first timer but you could tell he's still acclimating to the Texas heat!  Alyssa decided that indoor sports are more her thing (smart kid....).  Some chores around the house, both kids seem to be willing to help.  They both like to play a lot (shocker....) and are big on being outdoors.   Last night all 5 went to our church youth group for movie night.  We are still spending a lot of time as a family acclimating ourselves to our new family members but so far I would have to give it an A!

Weekend Family Fun

We had a long weekend of family fun spending time with our 5 teenagers.  Friday night we started it off by going to an outdoor theatre in Wimberly (small town near here) to see The Avengers.  The movie was actually very good.  We had taken Kayleigh there last summer when she was here on the hosting trip, it was Michael's first trip there.  Late night followed by an early morning for Dylan and I as we went out to Hamilton Pool (up by Dripping Springs) for black belt photos with the new PKC black belts.  That was a lot of fun, Dylan has grown up so much this past year and is turning into such an incredible young man.  Then back down to San Marcos for Alyssa's 1st dance recital, she did awesome!  She is loving dance (had done it for a year now) and is doing awesome at it.  Pit stop at the house and then on down to Corpus Christi to visit family.

We had a great weekend down at the beach.  Got to see my aunt & uncle, Jim & Glenda and their family (cousins and more cousins!).  They were all excited to meet Kayleigh and Michael and have been incredibly supportive through the adoption process.  Lots of fun eating, swimming, fishing (a LOT of fishing, the kids had a blast with it....), sleeping (hey, teenagers....).   Drove back last night and our family of 7 hit the rack.

It was so much fun watching the kids enjoy being together and having fun.  Often I have to pause and be amazed that only a few weeks ago, these two kids were in an orphanage with no future.  Now they're in the pool with huge smiles on their face, a family, and happiness.  Awesome.

Deploying The Fleet

We've been back in the states for a week now and the time with the kids has gone very well.  Both Kayleigh and Michael seem to have taken the change in their world in stride and we haven't had any problems.  There has been a lot of teaching of basics, like closing the door after you when you go inside our outside (door closed by itself at the orphanage), or asking to go out to ride bikes (they just did it at the orphanage), but nothing big.  Both help with things when asked or on their own initiative in most cases. 

We continue to watch Kayleigh and Michael as we try to learn them as fast as we can. Both are very sweet kids and have seemed very happy with our family. Kayleigh, like Alyssa, hates to get up in the morning. Michael is a ball of energy, was great with tools, and continues to surprise us daily. When we saw his pictures from the orphanage he was never smiling and we thought he'll be one of those quiet tough nuts to crack. It has been quite the opposite as he has blossomed quickly, is a very energetic young man, very smart, loves to laugh and play. Both kids are eating a lot more than before which is good, and both are a lot more relaxed.   They really like having meals together as a family and ensuring we pray before we eat.   They love the trampoline and riding bikes.  Michael does not like mushrooms.  Neither likes oatmeal.

Yesterday was a day in our "normal" life where we're scattered all over.  Bekah was up in Austin as she is starting a job working for a family doing all kinds of stuff, the boys and I went to Lowes and fixed some stuff around the house (I now have 2 sons who are more adept at tool oriented things than I...), Jodi and the girls were down south for Alyssa's dance class (her first recital is this coming Saturday...).  We all ended up back home for dinner (tacos, both kids seemed to be fine with them and so far eat most anything...).  Today we'll be off and running again as all the girlies are going to get their hair done, I am still digging through the 6 1/2 week backlog of stuff that piled up while we were gone, and Dylan and I are going to karate tonight (maybe take Michael as well....).   We continue to try and keep the world small and give them time to get their hands around things.  So far so good!

Good To Be Seen!

The past couple days have been pretty on the go as we are getting our life re-started here in the states.  People naturally want to meet the kids, and they've handled all of the attention pretty well.  We did explain up front that it'd be kinda crazy with everyone who has followed the adoption process wanting to see them in real life, and they've rolled with it very well.  Sunday morning we went to church and did the child dedication with them.  We're not sure if or where they are spiritually, but have been told that they attended Orthodox church at times back in Ukraine, and will remind us to pray at mealtime (we do anyways...).  Our church had done up a video of their arrival at the airport in San Antonio which they really seemed to like.  After church we went to pizza for lunch (American pizza that is....), then home for a bit, then to friends for BBQ and swimming (they enjoyed that a lot!)  Both kids are good swimmers.  Today was more of a chore day as we finish getting kids rooms set up, laundry from our trip done, that kind of stuff.  We took them up to our karate class to meet people there, then back home where Dylan is grilling up some chicken (gonna grill a bunch to catch up!).  Both Kayleigh and Michael so far have seemed to do a great job of handling the change in world for them.  We'll keep on loving on them a whole bunch.  We are sure as time marches on that there will be days where it doesn't go well and understand that will be part of the process, but in the meantime we are truly enjoying the good days.  I was watching out the window as they were on the trampoline today, both with big smiles on their faces.  They just seemed like kids being happy, not having to act tough or be on guard or watch their backs.  Getting to just play and laugh, sleep in a real bed, wear shoes that fit.  Being safe and cared for and getting hugs.  It's a good thing!

The First 48

We've had our first two full days at home and so far it's been amazing!  We flew into San Antonio Wednesday evening and there were over 60 people there to welcome Kayleigh and Michael to their new home.  At first they looked a little blown away but we could tell they thought it was pretty cool.  There were previously adopted girls Kayleigh knew from Ukraine there so that was extra cool, and friends of Dylan's as well for Michael.  Then we went to dinner at Red Robin for some dinner and lots of Dr Pepper!  Home to get some sleep and start the process of trying to get over the 8 hour time difference and jet lag (still working on that one.....).  We've kept it low key the first couple days as we're all just trying to adjust our biological clocks and all!  We've met up with a couple people to say howdy, cleaned out the refrigerator (ewww.....), started back up on getting bedrooms organized (Bekah loves her new closet!), did some grocery shopping (yea!!).  Dylan and I took Michael for his first trip to Academy (Michael chose the Firebird for the journey out and loved it :) for a soccer ball (he selected a shiny red one right away, he's a HUGE soccer nut...) and his first trip to Sonic (we had a couple slushies, onion rings, chili cheese fries, he loved it all).  Both kids are loving being kids.  We're finding both to be very athletic and have done well at anything he's touched (they both can swim, throw, run, ride bikes, trampoline...).  It was great watching them from my office window jumping on the trampoline and laughing like crazy the whole time, what a change from their life only a few days ago!  Both kids have been great with our family, very engaging and happy, helping with dishes and such without even being asked or prompted, hugs and smiles :)  Communication hasn't been a problem, we've used google translate only sparingly, both kids seem very bright and pick up on english and pointing easily.  I love their smiles.  The sun is rising on day 3 as I finish this entry to our blog, I am so excited to see what will happen today!

We Are Home!

We are home after a very long day of travel.  I forgot how far away Ukraine is from the United States!  All 5 of the kids did fantastic on the long flights home and were very excited to be here.  Big crowd to welcome them to their new home country which they seemed to be very happy about.  Dinner with a big crowd of friends, then home (it's still there!).  Michael is still bubbling with energy (at the moment), Dylan and Kayleigh went to bed right away and are out stone cold.  Time for a very good nights sleep, which I will do with a big smile on my face :)

Our Final Blog From Ukraine!

This is our last blog from Ukraine.  We will continue to blog as our journey transitions from pre-adoption, to our adoption trip in Ukraine, and now our post-adoption life back home in Texas.  In so many ways, leaving Ukraine will mark the real beginning of our journey for our family as we assimilate our two new children into our "normal" daily life.  As I said in the blog with the martial arts black belt analogy, tomorrows flight home will be the end of the beginning for our family!

It is such a great feeling to be done with all the paperwork, orphanages, notaries, social workers,  potential roadblocks and concerns, and to just sit here holding two passports with immigrant visas for Kayleigh Mariya and Michael Andrew Tansey to enter the United States of America as our children, and walk out of customs with that magic stamp in their passport that will officially make them American citizens (dual citizenship actually).  Walking off of United flight 1054 in the San Antonio airport will truly be a magificent moment for our family.  Praise and glory to God!

We have been incredibly blessed, loved and supported in our adoption journey by so many people and will probably never be able to thank everyone enough.  Our decision to pursue adoption of Masha & Andriy in late July 2011 has now culminated in our 46 day adventure here in Ukraine, and we will come home with an treasure of memories, stories, friends, and two teenagers!  We cannot wait to get home and share!

Signing off now from Kyiv, Ukraine with love.

Chris, Jodi, Bekah, Alyssa, Kayleigh, Dylan and Michael Tansey

Finals

Today was the day to leave Zhytomr, the small town that we have spent most of our 44 days in Ukraine in.  We've gotten pretty good at living there and have made a number of friends as well.  We were up early to get to the passport office (passports promised at 9:00am were ready at 10:45am), and checked out of our apartment and goodbyes to Alex (apartment owner).  Really great guy who took the time to help show us around town, even hang out with us a couple times for the day.  Our US Embassy appointment was scheduled for 11:30am (2 hour drive) so do the math.  Vitaly our driver made like amazing time and should drive NASCAR, and we made it close enough to get in at the embassy to start the papers for visas for Kayleigh and Michael.  Vitaly is an excellent and reliable driver, not to mention very funny for a guy who speaks almost no english and we'll miss him.  The US Embassy visit went very well (great seeing the Stars & Stripes flying!) and the staff very helpful.  Our visit only took about 30 minutes as our facilitator had everything ready to submit.  There is an unbelievable amount of paperwork involved in adoption, we have been very blessed to have Oksana handle our adoption, she is the best!  Then back to the flat to check in to our apartment in Kyiv (very nice :), and an early dinner with Andriy, the pastor from Zhytomr whose church we've attended while there, who helped with transportation to Kyiv today.  He is a genuinly wonderful man who loves God and lives the Gospel.  Our family has been blessed by him and his family, and the church family as a whole.  If I lived in Zhytomr, I am sure he would be my BFF there!   Dinner was tasty, we went back to the place we ate at the day we left Kyiv for Zhytomr, they have the awesomeest vareenky (dumplings).  Then home for the evening to do some final flight home packing and an early night to bed.  So, a very busy day and a day of goodbyes to Alex, Vitaly, Oksana & Andriy, you have been wonderful and will truly be missed!  Oh, and Pasha, but that is for another blog..... :)

Itinerary

Hello All!  Today is an exciting day as we leave Zhytomr and head back to Kyiv for visas and medical check!  Pray all goes well today so we stay on schedule for our Wednesday departure :)

I am not sure if or when we'll have internet before we fly so here is the information on our overseas flight and short hop to our final destination in San Antonio, TX!

Wednesday May 9th, 2012
Frankfurt Germany to Houston TX
Luftansa flight 440 arriving Houston 1:50pm

Houston TX to San Antonio TX
United flight 1054 arriving San Antonio 6:39pm

We have truly enjoyed our experience in Ukraine, it has been unforgettable, but will be very happy to return home!

Pasha Pasha Pasha

I'll blog later on this one, just wanted to give myself an electronic bookmark so I don't forget!

The Weekend

OK, so for a weekend where you are supposed to rest, not happening :)  For Saturday we went with our church group (yeah, we have a church group here now :) for a youth event day in the woods.  Zhytomr climate and scenery wise reminds me a lot of British Columbia, a few hours north of the Seattle area where I grew up.  We packed 16 people into a VW van (yeah, we're close!) and took a ride about 20km outside of town.  It was a beautiful place with a big lake, lots of tall pine trees, and lots of sunny weather.  Camp was set up we had such a fun day.  We took a walk with the kids in the woods, the boys found a lot of small lizards running all over the place and had a blast catching them.  Then the kids went for a swim (we discovered that Kayleigh and Michael are good swimmers).  It was great watching Dylan and Michael together, they are really two peas in a pod with many similar likes, and Dylan has been amazing as a big brother.  After swimming we ate, grilled chicken, cabbage salad and potatoes, very tasty :) 

Then sports kicked in, which for me was a lot of volleyball.  I represented pretty decently, but smartly avoided the football fields as I saw some very talented players.  Michael jumped in and played some and actually hung in with the adults.  The end of the day was signalled by the thunderstorm that came through with 1/2 inch hailstones!  Back to the flat at the end of the day where the kids showered up and everyone crashed for a good nights sleep.

For Sunday, up early to go to church here in Zhytomr for the last time.  The day started with bad news from the states that my mom has had a stroke.  No real news on her condition other than she is in ICU.  Went to church service said our goodbyes to our other church family.  They have been wonderful and a huge blessing to our family!  Then back into town to run around and get ready to travel.  We are busy packing for our travel back to Kyiv and then our flight home!   All that is left is picking up the passports, then getting visas at the US Embassy and the kids medical check.  And, getting in the plane for our journey home.

For travel, we have our flights booked for our trip home!  We will be arriving Wednesday May 9th in San Antonio, TX in the early evening, I'll send out our arrival information soon :)

Size 37

Today was another great day, our first full day as a real family of seven :)  Jodi and I had to run out to sign more papers (there are always more papers), then to lunch with our pastor friend here in Zhytomr.  After lunch to the outdoor market as Michael needed shoes (the pair he had here were too big and worn out, the pair we brought for court are now too small), our pastor friend helped us with shopping as the sizes here are all different (case in point in today's blog title for shoe size, no we did not adopt a clown!).  I feel muscular as I am an XXL here vs XL in America :)  Back to the flat for a pit stop and then dinner with our facilitator for, you guessed it, more papers :)  We did get our appointment scheduled with the US Embassy in Kyiv so we continue to progress towards our return home!  May not get to blog tomorrow as we are going out for a long day of nothing but fun with the church here, a day of grilling, swimming, volleyball, etc.   Funny to be talking about swimming when we clearly remember the snow upon our arrival!

A Forever Home!

Today was a great day!  After 40 days and 40 nights in Ukraine, snow and sun, ups and downs, praises and prayers, we are officially the parents of Kayleigh Mariya and Michael Andrew Tansey!  It goes without saying we are very, very happy!

It was a long day as we loaded up in the car with the facilitator and did a whole lot of running around.  It is amazing how much paperwork there is.  Court house, notary, orphanage, birth certificate office, orphanage, notary, passport office ..... you get the idea!   Took a ride with Kolya and Nikolai to buy some doors for the orphanage.  Waited in the truck for awhile waiting for documents, Nikolai starts trying to talk to me.  No english at all.  I tell him in Ukraine I don't understand.  Get a big laugh when he says it again slower and louder with hand gestures.  We kid Jodi all the time for this!  We had dinner with our facilitator and driver (long day for him too!) then out to the orphanage for more time with the kids there, and tradition of bringing cake or candies to share with their classes.  Met a nice Christian couple that comes to the orphanage a lot to spend time with the kids, turns out they are Kayleigh and Michaels godparents as well :)  Now thinking about an early bedtime, because I am mentally wiped out!

Two Left Feet

It's pretty basic I guess, when you go from 3 to 5 kids, you go from 3 to 5 kids that need stuff!  In today's case, shoes.  Now, shoe shopping here would be terrible if we lived here, as the styles are frankly SO much cooler than in America.  I would have a wife and 3 teenage daughters on shoe rampages!  Today was more practical in just getting shoes that were needed and fit.  I am guessing from the husbandly distance that the fashion pluses were a bonus.  There is a huge outdoor market we went to, it's like a giant really close proximity small storage unit area full of people selling lots of things, but tons of vendors with clothes and shoes, and the prices are very reasonable if not just flat out sweet!  Afterwards we connected with our facilitator for a bit of dinner and game planning.  We've done a good amount of packing and are starting see the light at the end of the trip tunnel.  Tomorrow is a big day for getting our paperwork in order for Kayleigh and Michael and other loose ends, pray that all goes smoothly, and spending more money on fun stuff like passports et al.  We're praying all works out financially as we finish our trip as we'll end up here about 2 weeks longer than planned.  Back to the apartment for the evening where we're reminded that there is no air conditioning here, and it's the warmest it's been this time of year in 30 years!  Kids are unwinding and getting ready for bed, Kayleigh is using google translate to work on her english to figure out the instructions for Sodoku.  I know english and still don't understand the instructions for Sodoku.  Going to bed as tomorrow is going to be a day of running around and experiencing the paperwork joys that come with the adoption!

Countdown

Well, at some point in every trip somewhere cool and exotic, you reach that point that your thoughts are oriented to going home.  I think we be there!  Our time in Ukraine all things being equal will be about 2 weeks longer (about 6 1/2 total) than we anticipated (thankfully we planned ahead for the unexpected so it's not a fire drill), but we're ready to tie up loose ends, pack our bags and take that long plane ride home.  It's been nothing short of an amazing experience that our entire family will never forget, don't get me wrong!  But, we miss our friends, sleeping in our own beds, barbeque, driving (I miss my Firebird!), and ice :)  It will be so very nice to walk off that plane in Texas knowing it is the end of our adoption trip, and the beginning of our new family life (in the state of Texas, getting a head start here in Ukraine :)  It will be one heck of a story!  We've started the process of packing our bags today so that we can pace it out in between our daily activities, since packing isn't fun in general.  Girls are doing each others hair tonight, Michael and Dylan are listening to music, I am uploading pics and videos (man, did we take a lot, almost 1400 pics in the facebook albums so far!).  Much to do before we hit the road, off to bed I go!