Betz Adoption Blog

Happy to be home

2010-01-11T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well I know that I said I would post as we still continue this journey, but I have been crazy!!! Oleg, Ryan and I are getting use to being a family. 3 weeks home and I feel that we are doing pretty well. I have to remind myself that we have only been home for 3 weeks and he is doing really well for the short time we have been home. He is a completely different boy then he was, and it is so exciting to see him blossom. It is funny I never thought that I would have a picky eater, I just assumed that he would eat anything I gave him but he is really picky so we are trying our best to fatten him up. we did take him to McDonalds the other day, he was digging on the fries, but not the sprite or chicken nuggets. He was so funny he hated the sprite, spit it right out. Christmas was interesting he really didn't care about his presents so we had a few unwrapped under the tree, but he did get them all opened. On a sad note Ryan's grandpa past the day after we got home, he was the first to meet Oleg and was so excited to have a great grandson. It has been bitter sweet being home but missing grandpa!! A great life ends and a new one begins. We have an appointment for Friday to get him in school he has been a bit antsy and ready to play so we thought a few days a week would be good for him. He has been to the doctor and all is well however, we do not have a record of his shots so we have to start over again, poor little guy, but he sure is tough! well goodbye for now I will write more later!! I love you all!! and so does Oleg. Here is a ton of pictures of the past three weeks....

Home again jiggidy jig

2009-12-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

We are home, we are here and we are fine. The plan ride was nothing that I imagined it to be it was worse, ugh. But before I left Trisha, the friend I was staying with said, "this to shall pass" and I had to remind myself of that the whole time!! Oleg was not scared but does not like being strapped down he wants to run free. the short flights were not so bad but 11 hours from Frankfurt to Seattle was rough!! but we mad it. When we arrived in Denver my grandpa was there to meet us at the gate (he works at the airport so he was allowed to meet us) that was a huge relief. We went up the escalator and there was everyone waiting to see the little bugger. He was so excited to see Papa he ran towards Ryan with the biggest grin. He was so excited to be home, but he was beet. The ride home in the car was better than I thought. he sat in his chair quietly. The dogs on the other had was a bit to much for him he was very scared of them. Over the past days he has become more comfortable with his surroundings and the dogs!! So for now we get use to each other, our schedules, and our lives. We are over joyed to be home, and we thank you for all the support!! I will keep blogging, our struggles and joys of bring home Oleg, but for now we are taking it easy and loving each other. Thanks again.

one ends another begins

2009-12-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

Tonight I get ready to get on a plane with a 3 year old, who first I can not communicate with and second he has never been on a plane before. I have to admit that I am worried. I try to remind myself that I am not the only one that has done this so I can do it and if he cries, oh well I do not know these people and I will never see them again!!! But I am still worried.
Oleg has had a few busy days here in Kiev but good once. Yesterday we visited the Houghtons with there dear daughter Anastasiya. Today we went to the mega mall, not sure if that is what it is called but it was big. The Houghtons came with Trisha, the kids, and I, and it was later determined that we probably wouldn't have made it without the Houghtons!! The kids played for 2 hours at the play place and they were pooped. It was tons of fun!! And now I am starting to feel sad. As much as I want to be home I will miss it. It has been a real eye opener and Ryan and I both have grown so close, that I fear that getting back to our lives will somehow make us forget the lessons we have learned and the times we have spent together. But here is to a new beginning.
Well here is my chance to reflect on this adventure, there was a moment in the car on that final crazy day that I broke out into tears think that this was it!! Today was the day of the beginning of the rest of our lives as a family. The song Time form Tenth avenue north came on the Ipod, (here is the song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw_8o85lFxA ) and it got me thinking of what an amazing love my Heavenly Father has for me. he gave me this opportunity to see how true his love is for me, how he pursues me and never gives up, just like our pursuit for Oleg. The thing is that this is only a glimpse of His love. I feel honored to have experience this, every struggle and every heart ache. I would climb every mountain and walk to the end of the earth for Oleg. This is the miracle of adoption. The prayer of my heart forever Lord is that I can love my son the way you love me.

whirlwind

2009-12-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

what a long few days and what a long Journey and today it officially came to an end, at least The adoption part the rest of our life with Oleg are ahead!! First of all I want to acknowledge all the support received in this journey thank you, second I want to tell Ryan that am so thankful that he was willing and excited for this journey. This was not his dream but he embraced it and now it is has become his dream as well!!

The day started early on Tuesday 7:30 and I had no clue what I was in store for. I had everything packed and ready to go. I had no idea what to expect and no idea that I would be in the car till I was on the train at 7:00 PM. We started by going to the court and picking up the court decree, however, the judge was not there and we would not be able to get the documents till 10. So we headed to the store to get some stuff that the orphanage had asked me to get; then to the orphanage to drop off the toys I brought and the goodies we just bought. after that to the court and then to the records of vital statistics, and of course that wasn't smooth so we had to come back later. Back in the car to the bank where Oleg had money from the state in an account that needed to be transferred to the orphanage, and me being his Mommy had to sign for it :). Edward was really doing all the work and all I did was sit in a cold car, once in awhile getting out to sign a paper or two. Then to the town Oleg was born in to the office of vital statistics there, and that took an hour and 1/2 plus the traffic. Nothing is easy, it seems like Edward had to fight the whole time for things to get done. We had so much to do and it was getting late so we headed back to town were we needed to get one more thing notarized, however; we could not fined a notary hat was open, we were on the final count down. Oleg the driver and Edward, both got out of the car and ran around trying to find a notary.... mission accomplished then to drop off our papers, then to the passport office and then to the orphanage. The moment I had waited for all day Oleg was going to be in my arms forever!! the Mama dressed him in what I brought, she let me keep his cross and the shirt he had on. She said something and I asked Ed what she was saying, seems she didn't like my choice of clothing it wasn't warm enough. They dress these little buggers in so much during the winter it is a wonder they can even move. We said our quick goodbyes there was no big goodbye like I was expecting, I was able to get a picture of him with all his buds and I did have a teary moment with his mama. I thanked her for taking care of him and loving him, and she thanked me for having room in my heart for him!! We left and got in the car where both Oleg and I cried and cried. To the train station from the orphanage, I got the last ticket and then...... sleep, that's a joke Oleg was crazy crazy. Praise be to God that he place 3 very sweet very understanding men in my compartment with me. They all stayed up with me and took there turn with Oleg helping me out. He was a handful but he was so cute and excited to be on the train. We finally slept at 2:30 and we were up at 6:30. Valentin greeted us at the train stop and headed to the doctor, that took 2 hours and then to the embassy. I thought that it was all done but they where not able to get me in till today to finish the visa. Oleg and I took a taxi to the embassy and got the visa this morning and now....... I can breath!!!!! if it sound crazy it was, really crazy!! but now we can breath and laugh and play, what an experience what a journey.

for now Oleg and I are enjoying our time with Trisha and her wonderful family, and I have luda there nanny to help he understand what he is saying it has been fun. He is doing great still crazy but perfect!!

Here are some pictures I took of our last day!!!

here is the entrance to Oleg's orphanage, I hope that we can see it again!!

Oleg's home town

His Friends in his room, room 10 they are all so cute wish I could take them all home!!

Edward, Oleg and Oleg

Oleg's new friends on the Train Alex and Andrew!!

Just another day

2009-12-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

Well, I managed to get out of the house today and walked around the market. I felt as if I was developing bed sores:) so it was good to get out even though it was bone chilling cold!! The good news is that Ryan takes off for home in the morning, good for him at least. The Dehanns and I are on the verge of insanity, I have managed to watch all three seasons of Lost, so far, pretty pathetic if you ask me but I have to do something. All I can do is laugh;)!!!
Oleg was in such an amazing mood these past days, I like to think it is because he knows that soon he will be with mama and papa FOREVER. Today I had my first moment of mother lion protecting her young. I managed to get upset with one of the doctors at the orphanage. She was insisting that it was way to cold for him to be out of his room even though we were still inside, and I had no problem with that. I was glad to take him back to his room, however, he needed to pack up his toys and I needed to get all my stuff ready before I could get him back. I was putting on my coat when the doctor returned and garbed Oleg's hand and started to take him back, he was crying, and it made me so mad that she couldn't wait 5 sec for me to finish. I proceeded to run over there yelling NEYT (NO) and I took his hand and led him back to his room, I told her (not that she understood) that I was his mother and I would take him back to his room!! he stopped crying and gave me a big smile, he knows that mommy takes him back and that is the way he likes it.
He has been able to talk with Ryan on the phone and that has been really cute. He repeats what I say so he told Ryan that he missed him and loved him!! We also met this family from Spain a very nice couple and we have enjoyed their company. They are adopting this sweet little boy with a cleft pallet, Him and Oleg get along really well, and the couple is just so sweet, so it has been fun sharing the room with them. one more day and he is ours for good, that is if nothing goes wrong!! I am trying to stay optimistic but we will see!! Keep praying and I love you all!!

My first Ukrainian snowfall. this is the outside of our apartment.
Oleg loves that cell phone now!! it is hard to get it away from him!!

On my own

2009-12-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

Sorry that I have not posted in a few day but to be honest it was for the best! If I was to post a few days ago, I would have vomited all my frustration and no one would enjoy this blog anymore!! so now I have a battle raging inside of myself. I want so badly to get up in the morning excited to cease the day, but I find myself sad, I feel like it is just one thing after another. If I have to hear one more time oh you need to pay for this I might just go postal. I am trying so hard not to feel overwhelmed or scared but I am not feeling so optimistic. Just when I think ok, no more it is going to be smooth sailing form here and it's not. Ryan and I were not allowed to exchange our tickets till the 16th of January ARE YOU KIDING!! We had to make the executive decision and Ryan is going home on the 14th of December and I had to buy a new ticket, so Ryan and I ate $1000 bucks. I should be Happy despite our set backs, if Paul can remain in Christ locked up in jail, I should be able to see what an amazing miracle this whole process is. I really can't see it, I am certain I will soon. For now I will just keep on keeping on. unbeknownst to us Ryan had to sign papers at the embassy before he left so we franticly had to get him on a train to get back to Kiev so he could sign 2 forms, silly really as we always thought that sense I was the primary on the INS paperwork that my signature was the only one needed (just another example of uncertainties). Now he sits in Kiev and waits to leave for home on Monday. I miss him and Oleg was very sad today that papa was not there. When I first go there tonight Oleg started yelling for papa it was so sweet, Ryan did call and Oleg was able to talk with Ryan on the phone, even though we had no idea what he was saying. on a lighter note Oleg is starting to repeat the English words that we are teaching him, the one he knows without prompting is banana he loves bananas. He knows please and thanks you, goodbye, hello, and up, I do believe that he will catch on fast. Please keep every adoptive family in your prayers we are ALL struggling and we ALL need the prayer!!
Here is a picture of us entertaining ourselves with a monopoly game we got in a happy meal at MacDonalds, pathetic really. This was the night we attempted to make Fettuccine Alfred but sweet cream was bought instead of cream it was not that good but we ate it anyway and imagined that it was the really deal.

here are some picks of our little bugger!!!!

the Dehanns and I went and got lunch a this turkish burrito place, they are sooooo good and the cook was sooo nice gave me a big hug and he took a picture with me, made me realize that my frustration here is not the people, just the system could be better. I promise I will post more!! I love you all!!!

Monday Monday

2009-12-07T11:39:00.000-08:00

So today was just another exciting day in the Ukraine. We went to change our flight home and the long and short of it is we are on the waiting list for flights out of here. Hopefully if that works out we will come home on the 19th or 20th. If not I may be coming home on the 14th so that we don't totally lose our tickets and Tabitha and Oleg will come home on new tickets on the 19th or 20th with a different airline. The reason for all of this is because the type of ticket we have is limiting and all the flights that we can transfer to directly are fully booked until January 19. That is way too long for us to stay so we are looking for alternatives to get us all home. But it will work out. Lufthansa is looking for alternative solutions and we should know if there are any in the next two to three days. The good news is that Oleg is well and he is learning a little English. He can now say goodbye, hello, up and banana. Pretty good overall. He listens ok and he seems to be learning how to deal with us and what behaviors are acceptable. He is a very spirited and a little rambunctious but he is also very affectionate and always thrilled to see us when we show up. So we are getting closer all the time to bringing Oleg home. Honestly, coming home can't happen too soon. Being away from home is starting to wear on us. We will be fine but we miss the way things are at home. We miss our beds and food and really all the stuff that we normally do. We are excited that we are down to under two weeks left in the Ukraine. Then we will be home finally after 6 weeks in country and almost two years since we began. We miss all of you. I am trying to get some more videos up but I am having trouble getting them uploaded. Here are some more pictures of Oleg. Talk to you soon.

Oleg loves bananas but eats a little too much at a time. Here is his face stuffed full.

Playing cars with momma on the floor. He actually sat still for like 20 minuets, miracle!!

Update

2009-12-05T03:11:00.000-08:00

I know some of you have asked what next, well for now we sit and wait for 10 days before we can take him out of the orphanage and he is ours for good! then to Kiev and the US embassy to get the paperwork done and hopefully home, however, the struggles never end we are having a very hard time figuring out the flight, sense we changed it once we can not change it again, so we have to go into the Lufthansa office and plead that they let us change the tickets. We are already looking at empty wallets, and just to get home before Christmas will cost us an arm and a leg but if we have to buy one ways that will just be too much. Like I sad last night this journey is just so uncertain!! Again we hang onto hope that it will all workout, all we can do is laugh.....
Please pray the the Lufthansa office will have an open heart!! We love you all!!

Court and now we wait

2009-12-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

We went to court today, and it went well. It really was no big deal but still nerve wrecking. Court was at 10 and we were picked up at 9 and I had ten min to get ready. we headed to to the orphanage to start with and then to the court house. The best part of the experience except for of course making it all official is trying to figure out the court system it truly looks like a mess! there are no signs and tons of people just walking in and out of rooms, Ryan and I spent a good 30 min trying to find the rhyme and reason but as far as we could see there is non, at least to us foreigners. Nothing fancy but here is a pic at court.

Ryan and I had a small break down last night we want to be home so I told him we needed to list 5 things that we love about Donets'k first of course being Oleg, that aside our 5 things we love: cheap beer, great milk, awesome juice, organized grocery stores, and cheese!!! That seemed to make us feel better, our journey is coming to an end but not at fast as we wished, it seems as if we will miss our travel date a week so we will be here a total of 6 weeks, we hope no longer. A recent blog we read was talking about the uncertainty we face here in the Ukraine, there is just so much that is out of our control!! if you want a lesson on faith and trusting God alone, do a Ukraine adoption :) but we have no complaints we have learned so much about ourselves, each other, our family, and our faith that we have been blessed to struggle through this!! It is only a small cross to bare. For now we are enjoying the journey, not only our journey but the Dehanns it is like watching a sappy life time movie, just when they seem to give up God intervenes and keeps the ball rolling and though the boy has not said yes they are doing everything!! even the stuff that we could not think of, only God could open those doors, it is so cool to see. Keep praying it is working!! here are some pictures of the market and of course Oleg.

have a blessed day we love you all so very much!

Pictures and Pictures

2009-12-03T02:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pictures of Oleg and us.

So we will see him again tonight then we are going to the big soccer match at 8. Looks like the internet is working again so we will keep you updated on how court goes tomorrow at 10am. Talk to you soon.

Still truckin

2009-12-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

Sorry you haven't heard from us in a few days we again do not have internet and we have to go to the internet cafe where it smells like smoke, yuck but I know that you are all patiently waiting for us to write on the blog. We have had a great few day seeing Oleg in the morning and night, the morning is so hard cause he really wants to be with his friends playing. They do fun activities in the morning and he runs back to the room wanting to join. So Ryan and I decided that we would just see him in the evening. when we see him in the evening he is in such an amazing mood and just tonight he has started giving us the biggest kisses. It is so cute and we love him so very much. We did get some more pictures including a family picture but of course I grabbed the wrong cord for the camera, yuck!! I am loosing my mind. We want to go home so bad, but beside Oleg, of course, our saving grace has been the Dehaans. I truly don't know what we would do without them. Our days pretty much consist of Oleg, season 1 of Lost and dinner with the Dehaans. Each day we spend with him is so amazing, we are learning so much about him, we learned how to stop his fits. It is pretty funny really that we find enjoyment in getting him to stop throwing a fit!! it's the small things!! he is Just so full of energy and go, go, goes, and he hates the word no but what toddler doesn't. He loves to fly like super man and love to listen to music he walks down the hall dancing, stinking cute.

We are scheduled for court on Friday, it's good, it is still this week but we will not be able to get him out of the orphanage on his birthday, we will be getting him out on the 15th, but that is better than waking another week so no complaints.

The Dehaans are patiently waiting and hoping that Sergei, the boy, says yes but at this point he is still saying no. Both of our hearts are breaking for them, we so desperately want it to work out for them, but it is very hopeful that at least they will bring the girl home!! Please, Please, Please pray like you have never prayed before!!! Sergei needs a good home and we just hope that he sees that the Dehaans can provide that for him and his sister. They have one more day to convince him, so as they put it, it is go time!! Please when you wake today pray all day, that our amazing Lord will move this boys heart!!

thanks we love you!!!

counting down the days!!

2009-11-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

Well, we are enjoying our time with Oleg we get to see him twice a day. He is getting more attached and of course he has already stolen our hearts. It is a very strange feeling to see your son being dressed and cared for by someone else, it breaks my heart we want to be the one changing him and feeding him.... but we need to patiently wait! We are enjoying our time with the Dehaans we love them so much and we are so blessed to have them with us. We have been cooking dinner every night, honestly the grocery stores are better here then in the States:) everything is organized better and even though we can not read it we can pretty much figure it all out, so it has been nice to cook and feel more like home. we have been so busy posting pics of Oleg we have not posted pictures of the very nice apartment we are staying in.

We were able to go to the soccer (football) game last night here in Donets'k the team is waxtap (that is the Russian spelling, our spelling would be shaktar) it was so much fun and great memories that we will be able to share with Oleg one day we also bought him a soccer scarf for his room!

here are some more pictures of Oleg he is starting to really listen to us and again I know that I am biased but he is sooooo smart he know which mama to talk to to get candy, and he listens so well to them! He loves to play super man and is enjoying all his new toys we bring. We just love him so much we can't stand it we are looking forward to getting him all to ourselves and being his soul care takers.

he is so cute he gets shy sometime and covers his face when we take a picture, it is soo cute!

this is a picture of his cubby at the orphanage with all his outside gear, but they never let us take him outside, the other picture is what him mamas put on him just to play in the room with us, he get so hot it is so funny we defiantly have to strip him down so he doesn't get too hot.

As far as the Dehaans they will be visiting the boy tomorrow and hopefully he has a change of heart and wants to come home with them, we believe in miracles so please say a prayer for them today that the boys heart is changed! we love you all very very much and know that you all a very huge part of this we could never do this without you!

2 in one day

2009-11-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

2 posts in one day are we parents or what, we are very proud of him and can't help but post everything that he does!! we brought him his leap frog dog and he loved it it plays music and talks to him and he would just walk up and down the hall dancing it was sooooo cute. here are a few more pictures. enjoy Black Friday and know that Ryan, Oleg and I love you all you very much!!

Good News All Around

2009-11-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

So overall things are moving along pretty fast. We have been visiting with Oleg as much as we can and although he is rambunctious and full of energy we are really bonding with him. He calls us momma and papa but he is struggling with listening too us even in the little bit Russian that we have learned. But that will come with more time spent with him although last night he has been better behaved toward the end of our visit. Yesterday and today we were only able to visit with him at 4 PM because he has a cold and the doctor wants him to rest and get better in the morning so we have been a little limited with him for the last few days so hopefully that will be done soon and we can go back to twice a day. He is still doing great even with his cold and is excited to see us when we show up. He can say good-bye in english although it is sporadic and I am not sure if that is really english or just an imitation. We do have internet full time now so we can post more often. We signed the last of the court and orphanage paperwork to day and last night all of our paperwork from Donets'k went to Kiev and today it was successfully turned in to the SDA today. So we should get that back Wednesday of next week and we should be in court on Thursday or Friday of next week. The we have to wait ten days straight through (there was a possibility that we would have to wait ten business days, so more good news there) then back to Kiev for a couple days then finally we can be on our way home. Edward our translator has been exceptional and has moved the process along very quickly so a great thanks goes to him, we would not be here without him. I was able to get some video up and converted today so I have a little up on youtube. And will post the links to that for all of you. We will continue to take video and post it there and I will post links to it here until I figure out how to put it right in the blog. We are leaving to visit him here in a few minuets so we will do a short post later with pictures and more video. We love you all thanks for all the support and prayer. Also keep Casey and Janelle in your prayers as they are making progress with the children they are visiting. It is getting better for them every day so keep them in your thoughts.

we are ready to come home

2009-11-25T04:03:00.000-08:00

so the hardest part now is that we are only allowed to see him for an hour or two, two times a day and it breaks my heart to say goodbye I want so take him home!! today we were able to see him after breakfast it was so much fun. we brought his bronco gear to try on it is 24 months and it fit perfect, so for all the grandparents shopping getting a few 2T/24 months will be good though there is no doubt with a juicy hamburger he should be in the 3T in no time. by the way he was so proud of his new cloths he would not take them off. he walked around showing all is mamas (that is what he calls his care takers). he wore that sweatshirt and hat till he was sweating and we finally got it off of him. Today we brought some cookies for him and we learned fast that we should have given him one at a time cause he took that whole bag of small cookies and shoved almost the whole thing in his mouth it was so funny we have it on video, we will share. but we tried to take the bag away before he shoved the rest in his mouth but he did not want to give the bag to us he was soooooo cute!!! eventually he handed the bag to me. here is a pic of him and about 20 cookies in his mouth :)

every time we try to take a picture he closes his eyes he has mastered this task quite well!! He was definitely more active today. he doesn't listen that well to us but that is mainly cause there is a language barrier but he listens to Edward and his mamas. Edward is going to teach us a few phrases so we can communicate better with him, but I am certain he will catch on fast. We might be biased because he is our son but we think he is pretty smart, really smart. He has lots of energy but it is perfect hopefully tomorrow we can take him outside we needs to get some fresh air, and he loves to look out the window.

we do not have internet yet in the apartment but we will tonight we hope! so we will skype soon. as for Janelle and Casey they left at 12:00 to go meet there little boy first then they we will meet the little girl next, so please say a prayer that their process will go fast and smooth!! and please checkout their blog at dhfam.blogspot.com and give them some words of encouragement they need it!!! we are blessed to have them with us. we will write soon and post pictures daily as we go through the next few more weeks. love you all.

Ready set go

2009-11-24T11:22:00.000-08:00

this is for all the grandparents...... get shopping!!! woohoo we met the greatest thing to have ever happened to us today in a matter of hours off the train we saw the most amazing little man! Oleg Edwin Betz how amazing is that!!!! our little man holy cow OUR LITTLE MAN. We stared the day off by meeting Edward our translator in Donest'k and headed to the regional directors office to get a letter and then to the orphanage. We were greeted by a women telling us to make sure we wear our masks.... we reported to the directors office to meet him, then to another room were we met the lawyer and doctor and with in a matter of minuets in walks our little Bear wearing a pink jump suit soo cute he was shy and he had a car with him already so needless to say our small car was not interesting to him:) he warmed up pretty fast!! he was scared of the masks and at one point walked up to Ryan and gave him that look of what?? but Ryan pulled down his mask and gave him the biggest smile, Oleg gave him one right back that was the first smile I saw from him. after he left we were allowed to go see his classroom were his class mates were eating as soon as we walked into the room he yelled out mama!! really really I'm a mommy. We were told that we could come back and see him at 4, and we promised him we would bring him even a bigger car and candy. In short the rest I really don't care about cause our lives just changed for the better that all else after this does not matter :), but I am certain that you all would love to hear. I have to admit that Ryan and I are the luckiest human beings in the world, not only did we get to share the train with a family (the Dehaans) that has been going through this process with us but we are able to share an apartment with them it is great to have each other. we are so excited to share this experience with them it is comforting to have each other, the Dehaans will be visiting their children tomorrow and we are so excited for them!!!

So we headed to the notary before we headed to the orphanage and Edward told us we needed to give his name there so we had 15 in to figure out his name. real quick we were wrong his name is Oleg just like it is spelled O leg and we choose Edwin after my Grandfather! in 15 min guess that is the best way to do it;) so after we figured out the paperwork we headed back to see his little face, this time he was soooo excited to see us mainly cause we had a huge car for him to play with. He was just finishing eating and so he was not fully dressed, they put some overall on him and he was our for an hour only an hour but it was the best hour of our lives. we played and played he loves to laugh and really he is speaking really well and is sharp as a tack. it is not like he is missing an arm at all he does just fine without it, he called us mama and papa he was so excited but really I think we were more excited. ok here you go what you all have waited for pictures!!!!!!

we did get video and as soon as we get it figured out you will have video!! after the hour of playing he had to go back and he cried he didn't want to leave us and of course I balled and balled I made sure Edward explained to Oleg (FYI his nick name is olishka) that we would be back tomorrow, no worries mama and papa will be back!! WOW two years of labor and we are finally here we are the luckiest people in the world to be blessed with Oleg what did we do to deserves such an amazing little boy!! sorry I would say he is a true 3T so you can get shopping, we love you all thank you for the support!! you will see more pictures tomorrow.

Just waiting till Monday

2009-11-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but we have just been running around Kiev keeping busy. We are well and have good news. We will be able to travel on Monday. And should be able to visit on Tuesday. We go to pick up our paperwork from the SDA on Monday at 2 PM. Then we are on the overnight train to Donest'k at 7:20. Donest'k is about 800 kilometers or 500 miles from Kiev. It is a little under 12 hours on the train to get there so we arrive at 7 AM. From there we go to our new apartment and then off to the orphanage for our first visit with Bear. So after two weeks we are now on the way. Over the past few days we have been going to the local flea market. While we were there we bought Bear some new clothes.

We have mostly figured out how to ride the Metro at least in part. So we have been a little more mobile or at least equally mobile but with less walking. So we have been to the flea market across the river which is a lot of fun. And also some good deals for Bear and some great food. We got a kind of burrito. It is a tortilla shell filled with a sausage, carrots, cabbage, pickles a sour cream sauce and a mystery red sauce. It is then grilled. It is delicious. But they have anything you can imagine there. Today we went to visit the park of the great patriotic war or as we know it World War II. It was a cool park and had tanks, old artillery pieces and some planes. Along with cool sculptures and of course the huge titanium plated statue that towers over the whole park. It is a huge statue and faces Moscow and was built that way to commemorate the bond between Ukraine and Russia. We were happy that we were able to get there and back with no problems on the metro. By the way the picture below is of one of the crazy long escalators that go down to the metro. The deepest metro station is over 300 feet below ground. We have also been spending a lot of evenings with Matt and Tricia playing with their kids, talking and watching various American TV shows. It has been great to spend so much time with them and have some easy conversations in English. We are greatfull to them and just so happy to have met them and blessed by their hospitality. So all in all we are great. Just happy to be here and excited to go meet our son. Talk to you soon.

New Apartment day and more sights

2009-11-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

So today we moved to a new apartment. It is a little further away from the center of the city but way cheaper and it is still close to a lot of the central areas here in Kiev. And walking anywhere is fairly easy although we got a little crossed up on our first excursion out to meet our new friends Matt and Tricia here in town. But we easily found our way back and got to where we needed to be today. Here are a few pictures of our place.

So it is quite a bit smaller than our old place but more than enough space for the next week till we can head to Donest'k. And we have a washing machine now which is great as we were running a little low on clothes. The rest of our day was spent hanging out with our friends and learning how to ride the subway which is quite cool but takes a little getting used to. But I think I have it down now so we can move around a little easier. But that is thanks to Matt and all of his local knowledge of the city and his ability so speak and read russian. He has lived in Ukraine for seven years so that helps. They are great people and we are very fortunate to have met them. Yesterday we went to the Pechers'ka Lavra which is a very large Monastery. Pechera means cave in and Lavra is the name given to the largest monastery in the Eastern Orthodox faith.

It was established in 1051 and it carries the name cave because there were caves dug underneath the monastery used to burry the monks. The climate turned them into mummies and they are very well preserved. It a place that you can visit, although finding the entrance is very challenging as all the signs are written in cyrillic and there was no one around that we could speak with. But we found it and bought a candle and went down there. It is interesting to see all this very small monks with just their feet uncovered with shoes on and all of the people down there praying with the monks. It is a beautiful set of buildings but we were only able to take pictures in a few places as photography is very limited there. But it was great. We ate some great pizza here too some of the best I have ever had and overall we have been having a great time counting down the days until we can go pick up our son. Hope all is well with all of you and we will talk to you soon.

A Jesus filled Sunday

2009-11-16T00:34:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I had such an amazing sunday just what we needed to lift our spirits and see first hand how God is working in this country! Barbara, our amazing social worker, told us that if we had time, and we all know we did, to get in contact with the Mission Music Kiev. With some help from Barbara we were able to get in contact with them and what a blessing. we called and introduced ourselves and they were instantly warming! they invited us to church and expected us to stay for dinner, felt like family!! this wonderful family consist of Matt and Tricia and their three children. the family of five just moved here from the states about three months ago. Matt is in the process of "taking" over the mission from his father and mother Roger and Diane McMurrin. in short they work with orphans and widows. They are living the James 1:27 life!!!! they also started the Kiev Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, when you get a chance please checkout their website www.musicmissionkiev.org, they have a cool program were you can support the widows, in away adopting them!! The church service was Beautiful with a full Orchestra and Chorus nothing that I had ever experience before. after church we enjoyed dinner and just sat and talked. we were able to meet another family that is visiting (they have family roots here) Uta and Katrina a mother and daughter, they will be visiting for 6 weeks, just wonderful, we will be going to dinner with them tonight! God is good!

there are things here that we love one being that they have the best flavors of chips in the world, not fare really why can't we have bacon flavored potato chip, there is even crab flavored. best of all the grocery stores are mainly packed with beer and chocolate can't go wrong there! the milk is even yummier than home.

this a a picture of our milk, we were not sure if it was milk at first, it is in a bag..... but it is yummy.

We are getting to a more normal schedule, last night was the first night I slept all night, felt good. we are going to the monastery caves today and see what else comes up. We will be moving tomorrow to a cheaper apartment a studio apartment, our apartment now is pretty big we really don't need the space, and the new one has a washing machine so we can wash our cloths, finally. we are getting excited!!!
we miss you all very very much and of course we are excited to bring Bear home, see you all soon!!!

oops quick fix from earlier

2009-11-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

We were wrong the statue is not of St. Andrew however it is of Volodoymyr the Baptizer he inherited the Kyivan-Rus (Kiev) empire from his grandmother and he wanted to unite the empire under one faith in 988. He united his Empire under the Orthodox Christianity unlike the questions that arise with Constantine faith and whether he did it for a stronger empire or because he truly believed, Volodoymyr the Baptizer believed!!! He led by example and soon his patrons fallowed. His statue was erected in 1853. I tell you there is just so much to learn, I love it!!!!!

Beautiful and perfect day

2009-11-13T10:52:00.000-08:00

today was beautiful, we are still not sleeping well but we were able to get on a somewhat normal schedule. We spent the whole day in the park next to the Dnieper river that splits East and West Kiev. the park is beautiful the trees are covered with moss and the walk ways are cobblestone and wined through the hilly park. Kiev is hillier than we imagined. The weather was beautiful today it was cold but it was much milder than it has been, there was even a wedding going on in the park. Everyone is a lot more laid back then they seem to be in the city. we walked a good 2 1/2 miles today it was great to get out and explore and breath the fresh air. there is tons to see in the park even a statue of what appears to be Saint Andrew. Ryan posted a picture of St. Andrews in a early post but here it is again with the picture of the statue.

The story is told that St. Andrew came to this location when it was only a hill and erected a cross where he prophesied that this would be the foundation for a great christian city, in later years Kiev became the center of the eastern orthodox faith. it has been so much fun to come home and research this stuff!!! as it stands now the church is undergoing foundation repair, the statue was in the park in a different part of the city however you can tell how important that history is to the people here....

during the walk we came across this bridge that was quite curious, it was covered in pad locks and pieces of fabric tied in knots, we came to the conclusion that it had to do something with marriage or love and we were right. It is so cool that something like that is universal, as the Beatles put it "All you need is love" it cool to see love in every language is the same!! as soon as we got home we looked it up it is the "the lover's bridge" if you kiss your loved one on this bridge your hearts will be forever locked together. I, of course am in search of a lock and you can bet we will be back there to share a kiss :)!!!!

And of course we had to find the football (soccer) stadium Ryan always gets a kick out of that!! We ended our walk by seeing parliament and finally getting dinner were we ate what I think was traditional Ukrainian food. I had trout wrapped in some kind of dough with barley as my side and Ryan had pancakes that were more like crepes with meat they were sooo good the trout on the other hand was not my favorite but I tried. I did get a bloody marry and that was a mistake I should have known better it was vodka and Ryan says vermouth with a splash of tomato juice it was strong, quite funny really. here is a picture of parliament. they are in the middle of election so it is cool to see.

We love you sooo much let you know when we can travel as soon as we know. thanks for the support!!

Patience and Jet Lag Still

2009-11-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

We are still here in Kiev and are waiting and waiting. Our situation is still the same which is good and bad. Good because the quarantine period has not been extended, bad because we still have to wait until at least the 23rd to get our paperwork and head to see Ogey. So right now we are just relaxing and doing some sight seeing around Kiev. But we are still fighting jet lag like crazy. It is getting better but still sleeping patterns and amount of sleep at any given time has been a really hard adaptation for us. But we are trying to just relax and take it easy. So here are a few place that we have been in the last couple days.

So there are three different churches St. Sophia which is the green and white church with the gold domes and the lighter blue bell tower. It was founded in 1037 although it has been refurbished and reconstructed and almost completely destroyed on several occasions, so pretty cool to see a structure that old. The darker blue church is St. Michael it was originally built around 1050 and survived until 1934 when most of the mosaics were removed and the structure was destroyed. It was then rebuilt in a similar style to the original in 1999 and fully finished in 2000. The other church with the darker blue domes and the sign on the gates is St. Andrew church it was constructed in 1754 and has had foundation issues which are currently being worked on again and right now the church is closed. The yellow building is just an example of what some of the city looks like. Very colorful and of unique architecture. Our plans for now are just to continue to look at all of the history that is around us here take pictures and rest. We are just trying to be patient and use our time here the best that we can. More will follow. Several people have asked if we have a picture of Ogey as of now we do not. We are not sure when we will be able to get a picture of him but when we do we will share it with you as soon as possible. Just know that we are well and just hoping that the quarantine will be lifted soon. Thank you for all the support it means a lot to us. Talk to you soon.

Jet lag

2009-11-10T21:24:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I have really done nothing but sleep we are experiencing jet lag like no other and I hate it. I want to go explore and see what Kiev has to hold but I have been sleeping very weird hours so we decided to set our alarms and try to get on somewhat of a normal schedule, so we will see. guess I just wanted everyone to know that we are still waiting and alive just tired. it means so much to us all the wonderful support we have received. thank you, than you, thank you. and to those families readying our blog waiting to travel, we support you as well and are sooo very excited for you. let us know if you have any questions we will answer them all!!!! we love everyone and just hope this waiting is over soon!!!

What a day

2009-11-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

Today we met out son... how amazing is it to say that we met the little man that will be blessing us in years to come. it might have only been a picture but we still got to see him put a face to our sweet Bear!! We woke up this morning at 3 AM we where just excited, nervous, anxious, well every feeling one could have we had it. our appointment was at 9AM so needless to say we really didn't get much sleep. We spent the next 4 hour or at least I did thinking and thinking. At 8:30 Valentin arrived to take us to the SDA (I think it is safe to say I love him he is amazing he just brings this sense of comfort) we waited for sometime outside before we waited inside and today it was cold, but no big deal. the SDA is nothing like I imagined but it was perfect the walls were blue and the building was quite old. Valentin went with us into the psychologist office, she was beautiful and kind she asked us a few things about our family and wanted to know why we wanted to adopt special needs, this is very rare most adoptive parent want healthy kids, but what is hard for me is how we as american define healthy, anyway, after a short talk she got right to it and said that this young boy she had been trying very hard to find a family for him. His birthday is December 14 (the day we come home, thought that was funny, Happy Birthday welcome home) he is sooooo cute he will be 2 or 3 we can't remember there was so much happening at once, he has a missing left arm below the elbow and is crossed eyed but he is healthy. they called the orphanage and he is very active participate in all the activities, he is not talking much but is a very happy boy. Our minds were made up at this point but we decided to see a few more all boys the other one we fell in love with was a sweet little boy that had TB and because of that he had holes in his brain and he had heart problems. This was by far the hardest decision that we have ever made, my heart was breaking and I was crying Valentin was so supportive and the Psychologist said that our minds were made up the moment we saw the first boy but I was feeling so bad, you know I want to take them all. Valentin told us there are so many orphans we can not take them all but we can change this little boys life. so we picked the little boy with the missing arm, his name is Ogey he had those cut deep set eyes and a fat little face. I feel happy but at the same time the other little boy with the TB will forever be in my heart and in my prayers. it is a strange mixture of emotions we are excited to finally put a face to our sweet Bear but I am so sad that we had to say no to the other boy. We feel very confident in our decision and are very excited to meet him he is in the East so as soon as we get the ok and the quarantine has lifted we will be traveling to go meet Ogey or Bear as we all know him by :) so now we wait. We were able to get some groceries and we got a cell phone so we can communicate with Valentin we are starting to feel more comfortable here we still miss home but we feel better a new sense of renewal we are ready to meet Bear in person. please pray that the quarantine is lifted soon and we see our Ogey. love you all!!!!!

Finally time to Breath

2009-11-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

here we are in the Frankfurt Airport not the best time ever. they are in the middle of construction so it took us 2 hours to find the USO no complaints we at least got to rest a bit.

So now we are all set at least we hope, we went on an adventure to find groceries and an adaptor for the 220 outlet. not as easy as we thought but an adventure. I hate that there is such a langues difference I wish I could comunicate better!!! we ate borscht for dinner pretty good seeing as we were not sure what we were ordring but isn't that half the fun? we are in Kiev right across the street from independence square, there is a really nice underground mall here and they have the cutest boots in the world I might just have to buy a pair before we leave.

here is the view from our balcony, I would have taken it during the day but we slept for 13 hours when we got here, we slept the whole day ;) oh well we were really tired, and soon we will be getting less sleep with a new bugger on the way!! to be honest it is really nice here you can tell that there is tons of history. I think the thing we are struggling with the most is that we really miss home and miss our family. right before we went to sleep Ryan said "I want to go home" you could tell in his voice that this was hard and it is we have such a huge support system and not having it near us is really hard. I want so bad to see my mommy!! but we are strong soon it will be better when meet our Bear on Monday at 9. please keeps us in your thoughts and prayers we need it. we love you all sooooooo very much and really can't wait to come home. I'll write more tomorrow.

Real quick

2009-11-07T16:37:00.000-08:00

we are here but we are very low on battery on the computer so we will need to write more tomorrow just wanted to let everyone know that we are here and tired!!! write more tomorrow. love you all very very much!!

In Germany Waiting

2009-11-07T05:54:00.000-08:00

So far so good. We made it safely to Germany and now are just waiting to get on our flight to Kiev. It was a good flight but long and with no real sleep for either of us. So we are off to wait our remaining 7 hours hopefully sleeping on the floor or something. We will update as soon as we can.

On our way!

2009-11-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

Here we go we are sitting in the USO in DIA, it is so unreally two years and now we are going. our flight leaves in about an 1/2 hour, I just wanted to take the time to let you know that we love you all and we feel so loved! we will update the blog when we get into Frankfurt. We love you all!!!!

SWINE FLU???????

2009-11-03T20:51:00.000-08:00

So we are ready to leave in two days and what do we wake to, an email letting us know that the Orphanages have been put on quarantine for the next three weeks, really are you kidding? if you have fallowed our journey from the beginning you know that this has not been an easy journey, but a journey none the less. We have decided to go forward and continue plans as they are, wait it out and see. We HAVE TO remind ourselves that this is not about us, this is not about what we are feeling, but this is about Bear our sweet little man waiting for mommy and daddy to come get him and bring him home, so swine flu be damned we are going to get our little man. please as you keep us in your prayer and thought say one for all the other families going through the same heart ache and stress that we are. we are all in this together!!!

2009-10-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

here are pictures of Bear's room, can you tell we are excited!!! the waiting now is getting so hard, but soooo worth it, WE CAN'T WAIT!!!!

10 more days

2009-10-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

So we only have ten more days until our plane leaves for Ukraine. Seems a little sureal right now. This two year journey is about to come to an end. It is exciting but we are just sitting around waiting to leave. But at least we are prepared to leave. We are just making a photo scrap book for Bear so he knows his home, family and friends. But all is good here. If anyone has any toys that want to donate to the orphanage that he is in let us know and we will come get them from you. We thank you all for your support and keeps us in your and prayers over the next ten days so we don't go crazy.

Finally

2009-10-16T16:24:00.000-07:00

As you can see we started this blog one year ago in hopes that we would be there ready to get our dear little Bear. Well here we go!!!!!! we are finally going November 6th. We will be posting as we go to keep you all up to date, and feel free to write us back. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Yeah we have a blog

2008-11-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah We have a blog, but still waiting to hear for sure!!!!