Sputnik

Today was a run around day. Taking care of administrative family stuff (hey, the world didn't totally stop back home...) in the morning, and then we did lunch with our driver, Vitaly and his girlfriend Liana (spelling on both?). Went to a sushi place in the mall with the ice rink. I don't eat sushi but all the sushi eaters said it was very good. Then we went to see the kids and run around a bit with them, Vitaly suggested the space museum here in Zhytomr. It's a small one but has some very cool stuff in it on the Russian space program. Model of the Soyuz spacecraft and the actual Soyuz 27 capsule the cosmonauts returned to earth in, autographed by the two cosmonauts. It's really like a 5 foot round great big hollowed out ball bearing. The tour guide spoke good english, it was very interesting to hear the narration of the space program from the other side of the cold war perspective. Another analogy moment looking at the sputnik model (the thing wasn't that big in size...) in that this is what our two new kids will be doing. Getting in a plane and going to a whole new world. It has been a great experience for our family to be here and feel out of place as it gives us a good taste of what they will experience when they go to America. Then hung out with the kids at the flat for awhile more, google translated some to explain the next couple days, pizza for dinner and back to the orphanage and home. Thanks for your prayers, please pray that the official you can go to court papers are ready at the SDA today for our facilitator, so that we can have our court date on Thursday. It's almost here!

Spoons

We took the morning to get some rest as Dylan has been a touch under the weather (all better now). Went over to the orphanage this afternoon to see the kids. The weather is cold and wet (snowed last night) so it was a hang out indoors kind of day. When we do indoor visits to the orphanage, Masha prefers we hang out in their room. Usually we'll play games, it gives us a good opportunity to spend time that is not language intensive. Today the game started with us, then after a couple rounds, added a few of her friends from across the hall. The door to her room was open and we'd add a couple kids. Then a couple more. And a couple more! Even some boys I would have labeled as too cool to play ended up coming in and stayed for quite awhile, until it was time for them to leave for school. We ended up with nearly 20 kids playing two big games of spoons! No clever analogy tonight, it was just neat to see kids who probably rarely if ever get to be kids, get to be kids :) Said our goodbyes to our soon to be kids, Masha gave me a big hug and said "I love you". That'll work :)

After our visit back to the flat, we ventured and cooked a real dinner for ourselves tonight, chicken with mushrooms and pasta, fresh bread, turned out quite good. Cooking can be an adventure since we can't read directions, ingredients, etc., and rely on the pictures on the packaging. Relaxing now in anticipation of a great day with the kids tomorrow!

Pizza As A 2nd Language

We decided to go to church again this Sunday to the baptist church we had been led to last week. The music was really great, and the sermon good (at least as near as we can tell with the translation!). Off early to get the kids and back to the flat to get ready for church. The girls had a matching outfit for Masha to wear and a nice shirt for Andriy as well. Our pastor friend and his family gave us a lift to church. Fortunate to have translation again this week, a very nice young gal named Angelina, she was great! After church back to town for lunch. We went to a pizza place next to the movie theatre that we had been to once before. We liked it as the food was good and they had someone who spoke pretty good english. Lucky again today! A young man who was very friendly and translated for our waitress, so everything was what we wanted to order and very tasty again. All the kids enjoyed the pizza.

Ordering the pizza is a lot like figuring out what our new family will be like. A pizza is like a family, we all have our specific likes / dislikes / loves / ickies, but in the end we all love pizza! Bekah likes just cheese. Alyssa will eat anything. Dylan is more discerning in his tastes. Masha likes mushrooms but not pineapple. Andriy likes the meat pizza. We've spent a life learning our three kids and know them very well. This process will now start over as we learn Masha & Andriy, but no matter the specifics on the ingredients, we know they'll love being a part of our pizza :) So far it's a lot of guess and go but not bad at all. They are both older and we can tell pretty sharp, so between us and them, we usually have found a way to get the message across to each other. We are enjoying our time getting to know them so far and are looking forward to when the process of adoption is over, and we can just settle in as a family together :)

Muddy Shoes

Our Saturday started out as a Saturday should, sleeping in! Coffee, watching everyone go to sleep on Facebook as we were waking up and general lounging to just take it easy this morning. We went over to the orphanage for a few hours this afternoon but Dylan and I never made it in the building. Andriy was on the soccer field and came out to greet us (I love his big smile) and since he was playing soccer, I asked if Dylan and I could come over and play as well, which was answered with a big yes. It was a bunch of taking turns playing goal and shooting goals. I am happy to say that we repped America pretty well, I still have a decent shot that does this cool hook to the left (I kicked righty) into the lower left corner of the goal, and quite a lot of power. And I didnt pull any muscles :) We did this for quite awhile, some other boys joined in as well. One in particular, Roma (Raymond) has a cannon of a leg and I blocked about half of his shots, but he has this wicked topspin, so it's like a soccer split finger fastball coming atcha (really nice kid). No english needed, just a soccer ball (well, it was actually a volleyball) pointing and smiling.

Masha and the girls came out from playing inside after awhile, and we turned to tag in the sandy playground. More kids joined in as well, lots of fun, they are still quite curious of the Americans, but friendly and it takes nothing to get them to join in (tag, you're it worked pretty well....). Left the orphanage and had dinner then back to the flat for the evening.

Good Friday

Friday was good Friday, and a good Friday :) Actually where we are, there are two Easter Sundays as we're told. Because the population here is split right down the middle with orthodox and non-orthodox, this Sunday is Easter for the non-orthodox population and the orthodox celebrate Easter next Sunday. I see lots of egg dying stuff at the store but no chocolate bunnies

We picked up Masha and Andriy and went to McDonalds for lunch. It's better here as they make it when you order it, and I still think the cheese is better. The McDonalds is located in a mall called Global across town. After McDonalds we took the kids to the ice skating rink and let them have at it. All 5 had a great time and we get a big smile every time they pass by, except for Alyssa who tried to pretend I'm not there. Maybe it's the big faces I make? Jodi and I had a coffee at a little stand by the rink run by three young guys who were very funny and friendly (and spoke a bit of english). After skating the kids did pics in the picture booth and we window shopped until Vitaly came and picked us up. Dropped the kids back off and went back to the apartment for a pit stop.

Then we went out to Andrei and Natasha's house for dinner. Andrei is one of the pastors at the church we attended last Sunday. They have a nice home in a small village outside of Zhytomr that I can neither pronounce or spell. They have 3 teenagers themselves that are all adopted 11 years ago when they were little. We had a great time! We got to see lots of pictures of their family, they sang a couple songs before dinner, very yummy dinner of chicken, i think chicken salad, beet salad and lots of desserts (still haven't eaten anything we didnt like on this trip). Then we talked for quite awhile. Andrei's english is good enough to converse and we have a great time with this family. The kids played games together and had a lot of fun. Made it back to the flat around 11 or so and off to bed :)

No Clever Title Today

Sorry, I can't think of anything catchy to name today's entry! It was another fun and full day here in Zhytomr. Got up and showered (always a good start), and then we met up with Alex for lunch. Alex is the guy we are renting our apartment from here in Zhytomr. A number of adoptive families have rented his place and we highly recommend it. Plenty of space for us, good location close to anything you need, and Alex is a really great guy. A guitar player and musician which makes him instantly cool, he has been super considerate in helping us get our bearings here, and we are very comfortable in the apartment. Tried out a new Italian place a few blocks away, the lady who runs the place was very nice and the mushroom soup was awesome.

The we had a pit stop at the apartment after a quick run by the market for water, and off to the orphanage for some time with the kids. Walked to a small convenience store with them for ice cream, which was freak show good. It was a strawberry ice cream cone with almost like frosting on top, fruit filling in the middle and chocolate at the bottom. I could conceivably live on those. Along with Captain Crunch with crunch berries :) Then back for some games (Masha still kills us on a regular basis), and finished up with tag on the playground waiting for Vitaly (driver) to pick us up. Andriy is quite small for 13 but the boy has some wheels! Alyssa, well..... let's say she's excellent at dance!

The ride back to the apartment was fun. Vitaly, our driver, is amazingly good and would do well in NASCAR. It still amazes me that people here drive insane compared to America, but we have yet to see our first accident. I emailed him a picture of my Firebird which is probably more suited to his driving style. He is a very friendly man with a great sense of humor and we have been blessed to have him safely get us from point A to B during our stay :)

Settling in the apartment for the evening as we have another busy day planned for tomorrow. Please continue to pray over the adoption as things continue to progress well. Our paperwork is all done and with the SDA, we are told we have court on Thursday April 12th, so T-minus 1 week. We are very excited that the kids have gotten along so great with our family and are looking forward to them being ours for real. It is not far away.

A Day In The New Life

Today was a fun day with our soon to be new family members. We took them out for pizza for lunch which was a bit of an adventure. The pizza place has no english menus. We dont speak Ukranian too much. Staff dont speak english at all. We guess and point. Well, got 2 of 4 pizzas correct which is 50% correct. Could have been 66.6% correct except we had only tried to order 3 pizzas :) It was very good pizza so no worries :) Both kids like mushrooms. Masha does not like pineapple. Then went to Eko (supermarket) to pick up some fruit and other sundries, we keep the purchases smaller as we have to carry what we buy back to the apartment. Then back to the apartment to drop stuff off and hang out for a bit, chat with the kids using google translate. It helps a lot on more complex conversations at this point. We are still surprised at how well they are getting along and connecting with our family. They both smile a lot, let us hug them, and have senses of humor that jell well with our family. If you know our family, you know what I mean!

We then took a walk to the mall that is about a 10 minute walk from our flat. It's a 4 story building that houses mostly small kiosk style stores selling coats, purses, shoes, and underwear. It's amazing how many street vendors leading to the mall, and stores in the mall, sell underwear. I don't know, maybe they layer in the winter months here or something? We went to the cafe that one of the pastors of the church we went to Sunday has, but it was closed due to some fire code thing for the building as a whole, but ran into him on the escalator so got to spend some time with him anyway over a cappechino. Andrei is a wonderful man who has been very generous with his time (and great cafe by the way!), with a funny sense of humor and good heart. We have been totally blessed to connect with him and his family. If I lived here, I think he would be my best friend.

Then back to the apartment for a couple more hours with the kids, then back to the orphanage and home for the evening. The kids wrote "Boofishy" on the back of his rather dirty van in the morning, it was freshly washed for the evening drive :) Yes, I know you must ask, what is "Boofishy"? It is one of my nicknames for Bekah that she completely refutes. Can't win 'em all I guess ;)

We very much enjoyed our time with the kids today, we'll see them again tomorrow :) Paperwork is all done and submitted with the SDA in Kyiv, praying all goes smoothly in the process there in preparation for our court date which is anticipated to be next week. Please continue to join us in prayer that the process goes quick and smooth, so that we can complete the adoption and bring our new family members home. G'night!

Tag!

Another blessed day in our adoption journey. Got a good nights sleep, did some reading and karate practice (squished) in our apartment, and went to see the kids at the orphanage in the afternoon. Warm hugs and smiles, it still amazes us how quickly they have warmed up, especially Andriy as he had not met us before. Card games, drawing and we ended up in an impromptu game of tag in the large open area in the main school building by the main office. We tried to keep it on the quiet side and used the big pillars as hiding places. It was so much fun! Lots of smiles and laughs and hugs. Nothing kids love, need and want more than simple attention and love. We don't need to be rich or famous, speak Ukranian, bring mountains of gifts etc. All it took today was running around a big room and giving some attention. As we say, Question: how to you spell love? Answer: Time. Plans are set to pick them up tomorrow and go our for pizza and spend more time together.

Afterwards, we returned to our apartment and then hiked over to a pizza joint we saw the other day a few blocks from here. Lots of good food, the manager was super nice and spoke pretty good english, and was super nice. The movie theatre is next door and showing Hunger Games. Our girls saw the movie before we left the states, but we think we have to go see it just to see what it would be like in Ukranian. We are so far very much enjoying our adventure and spread our wings a bit more each day. Stopped by a small market on the way home to pick up some dried meat and bread, it was so weird as I remember this store and the person who helped us from a dream a few months back. Still thrilled at how good the food is and how nice the people are :)

ZZZ... zzz...

We pretty much just took a day off today. Slept in a bit, chilled at the flat (apartment but they call it a flat here). Went out for a bite to eat and the market (grocery store) all by ourselves :) We're figuring out things around here pretty fast and gaining self sufficiency more each day. Still working on our basic Ukranian words so we can get the word across wherever we go. Funny at the restaurant for dinner, the staff didnt speak English and we don't really speak Ukranian. We'd be looking at each other and laughing, and we both knew it was because we couldn't really understand what the other was saying. However, pointing and smiling is still universally accepted and it all worked out. Had a meat and mushroom filled potato pancake that rocked the universe for dinner :)

Sunday Best

OK, we've probably all heard of the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon thing. It's where you know someone whose connected to someone and on and on, and within 6 connections you get to Kevin Bacon. I don't know if that's true or not, still haven't received a Christmas card to date from KB and the family. However, seems to be true here! When we were in Kyiv we had dinner with another family here for adoption from Texas, that actually lives close to us but we had not yet met in person. They run into a friend, Andriy, who doesn't live in Kyiv but just happened to walk by the restaurant we're eating at! We get his information and ask if he knows anyone in Zhytomr, he gives us a contact (also named Andriy). Andriy here knows a guy named Tom, who knows a good friend of mine named Garrick that I've known since high school. It's a total God thing as we're 10,000 kilometers (yes we're turning metric here...) and we're making a bunch of friends :)

Anyway, Andriy (here) is a pastor so we got to go to church on Sunday. He and his wife invited us and gave us a lift across town to their church. The service was great, the choir was amazing (I'll post videos), two young ladies, Kristina and Anna translated for us, we actually had a great morning with them. After church, Andriy and Natasha (wife) took us to lunch to their place, they own a cafe in a mall that we didn't know existed that is a short walk from our apartment! The food was awesome (as always so far), and we had a great time talking with them. They have 3 adopted children.

Then Vitaly (our very cool driver) gave us a lift to the orphanage to spend some time with the kids. We hung out in their room (very cold outside) and played spoons some more, lots of laughs as we do our best to talk back and forth with our limited Ukranian. I manage to get most of the words right that I know, Bawook (spider) is still my favorite one. We brought oranges, bananas and candy with us. A few of Masha's friends joined us for spoons, Masha, Vera, Valla and Sveta (yes I'm sure I'm spelling phoenetically....). They were fun to hang out with and I think find us amusing. Anytime we're there, a pack of kids are sure to hang out and watch us, very curious of the Americans.