Ukraine Map & Flag.

Here is a map of Ukraine. We started out in Kiev...traveled down to Nikolaev...and will finish back up in Kiev. Same thing will happen on 2nd trip. The remaining trips back up to Kiev will be by the night train. I can not get myself to get back on "suicide highway". There are some things some people can only do once and that is one thing for me.

Notice where Odessa is on the map...very close to Nikolaev. We believe both of our families ancestors shipped out of Odessa back in the late 1800's to early 1900's. Some family never did come to America. It is kind of neat walking the grounds that some blood line way back in the day may have also walked. For all we know Isaiah could share the same blood line somewhere along the line. He does really look alot like one of my little boy cousins. :) Our facilitator said that we need to mention that to our judge that our ancestors come from this area. They started in Germany and when things got bad there they traveled to Russia...which is why they are referred to as German-Russians in our area back in North Dakota. Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union along with Russia and a few other countries. The final independence for Ukraine was achieved in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR. We have questions to ask family when we get back home because we are beginning to think that the term "German-Russian" is not correct because Odessa is in Ukraine and that is where most shipped out of. Now, maybe they traveled to ship out of Odessa but actually lived in Russia. Lots of interesting facts to find out.

Germans in our area refer to vegetable soup as Borchst. Borchst is BIG here in Ukraine and it is YUMMY! They use a lot of beets in theirs. All this time I thought Borchst was a "German" word but turns out it is Russian/Ukrainian. We know 3 Russian/Ukrainian words pretty well...Dah (yes), Nyet (no) and Borschst (vegetable soup).



Here is a picture of the Ukrainian flag. I find it really ironic that the colors are the exact colors that are used to bring awareness to Down syndrome...blue and yellow.

Good News x 3.

#1-Our Interpol Clearance is in which means court is still on for Monday at 10am.

#2-We will be able to get the one day passport for Isaiah on our 2nd trip which means instead of spending 3-4 days in Nikolaev we will only need to be here ONE day!

#3-We were suppose to go to Notary tomorrow but just found out she is going on vacation for a week so we will do it today.

Now we can reschedule tickets and book 2 more for our return trip. Darrell won't be coming back with me but luckily our 13 year old Austin is passport ready so he will come with me. It will sure be nice having an extra set of arms to help with Isaiah. He may be little for a 2 year old but his low muscle tone makes him hard to carry.

Today when we got to the orphanage they were already outside in their same play area. They were having their morning snack outside. It is a cooler day...the humidity is sooooooo much better. All 3 nannies today were very nice and asked us questions as best they could in English. They asked about our family so we showed them our photo album. Everyone is always shocked to hear we have 5 boys back home. I was surprised that one of the nannies has 5 kids herself...all older though. We were told most families have only 1 child...some have 2 and very few have 3. Today was also the first time that we saw so many toys in their play area and before they went back inside some of the kids got to sit in a little swimming pool. The nanny put Isaiah's feet in. We aren't sure what happened today but they never handed Isaiah to us. We stayed with them the whole time they were playing and then when they were done the little ones went into a stroller including Isaiah. After his feet were cleaned in the pool they took him inside. Darrell and I just looked at each other. We did go in to give them their daily diapers. We were asked to bring a few diapers everyday which seems strange as he is not even ours yet but oh well. Before we leave on Monday I will give them the rest of the big bag we bought here so we don't have to stuff them in our already OVERSTUFFED luggage.

While the nanny was pushing the kids in the stroller she was singing and Isaiah would bounce up and down. We could tell he definately understood what she was singing. He seems to get treated very well by everyone. We wish he could come home with us now but knowing how he is cared for will make it easier to leave.

July 22, 2005 & July 22, 2010

This post was meant to be on the 22nd but time always seems to be hard to find lately. Our days go by faster than we thought they would.

A while back I mentioned how the 22nd is a very significant date for my adoption dream. I have journal entries that were dated such and such month and year that had the day of 22nd. On June 22nd we received our SDA appointment. It came much later than we had hoped for but just kept trusting God had THE perfect time that we would travel. A couple hours after I got the email with our SDA appointment news, which was for July 20th, I realized that there was a VERY good chance that we would meet Isaiah for the very first time on the 22nd of July. It would be like the day we gave birth for a typical pregnancy. What makes this day even more special is that July 22, 2005 is the day we gave birth to one of our biggest blessings...our Joey. Joey is the boy who inspired this adoption of a child with Down syndrome. Joey has blessed our family in so many ways and we wanted to give back to God by helping one of 147 million orphans in the world...a little boy who Reece's Rainbow named Isaiah. For those of you who didn't read the beginning of this blog, our Joey wasn't always named Joey. He was named Isaiah Joseph but within a half hour of him being born I had a STRONG feeling that I needed to change his name to Joseph Isaiah...so I did. 3 1/2 years later (Nov. 2008) God finally told me why that change needed to be...because there was going to be a different Isaiah in our family someday. And ironically Isaiah's real name is not Isaiah...it is Ilya...but there were 2 Ilya's on Reece's Rainbow so they changed my Ilya to Isaiah.

By God allowing...planning...for both these boys to have the same "birth date" tells me that this was indeed God's will for Isaiah and for our family.

Just for fun here are some pictures of Joey throughout the past years. He turned 5 last week and we were sad to miss his birthday. It was even sadder missing him blowing out his candles for the FIRST time. I've been working with him so hard and for so long to get him to blow and he does it when we are gone.
2 weeks old
3 months old
6 months old
9 months old
1 year old
2 years old
3 years old
4 years old
I don't have a 5 yr. picture yet but these are recent ones. Joey ADORES our dog. He can lay by him for so long just watching his every move.

Prayer request.

We are following a couple from South Dakota who is also here in Ukraine, although a different region, and they have a court date for Friday at 11am. They are asking for prayers that they have Interpol Clearance (some type of FBI clearing that needs to be done in Ukraine) so they can proceed with court.

We have not been told about this so I called my facilitator before I made the flight changes as it costs $250 for each flight change. She said she will find out tomorrow if we were cleared. We also need this in order to have court on Monday.

So if anyone has any prayers to spare for BOTH of our families we would all appreciate it. The SD couple has 7 kids waiting for them at home and our 5 makes 12 kids waiting for their parents to return sooner than later.

Today in between orphanage visits our facilitator took us to the train station to buy tickets for the night train going from Nikolaev to Kiev on Monday evening. There was only first class left which was fine b/c then we get a compartment to ourselves...only 2 bunks in first class compartments.

Oh, and this afternoon we had something happen for the first time since we've been in Ukraine....we...had...a...cool streak...for a few hours while it was sprinkling. It felt SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. We've had near 100 degree days everyday. It was the first time we were outside walking and we actually enjoyed it.

Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers!!

We got a court date!!!!!!!

And we are so thankful for when it is. With the bump in the road last week we were expecting it to be later BUT it is on Monday, Aug. 2nd at 10:00am!!! God is so good!! Sasha's been doing an amazing job speaking on our behalf to the people who have the "power". We will NOT get the 10 days waived though :( I've decided to fly back home with Darrell. Although I was so happy for an earlier than expected court date, reality hit fast...I was going to be alone very soon and I did not like that feeling. Plus knowing how homesick the younger kids are makes it even harder being here for what would be close to another 2 weeks after court. I hate to spend all the extra money for more airline tickets but it will be GREAT to be home.

Plans are to fly back on August 14th for up to a week to finish off the adoption process...new birth certificate, passport, medical exam, visa. We aren't sure who will be coming with me as I do NOT want to do it alone, either Darrell or Austin as he has a passport. It will be sad leaving Isaiah behind but it is only for a short time before he is carried out the orphanage gates.

We have so much to do before we leave but first working on changing our airline ticket date. My agent said the Delta flight is SO full and it will be really hard to make things work. Please pray we both get a seat and for a bonus...to be seated together. There is only ONE flight out of Kiev that flies straight to New York and it doesn't fly out everyday. We are hoping and praying to be on the flight that goes out on Wed. Aug. 4th.

Monday the 26th.

This morning some man came driving up in a white car and people started walking over to him. He had cream cans full of milk we are assuming. People had all different kinds of containers and he poured the milk into them with a funnel. When we was done with those people he walked around the area ringing his "milk bell".




These 2 ladies were sweeping the sidewalks around this apartment complex. It must be cleaning day because we were awakened to a lady beating her rug. Later someone else was beating their rug. I don't see a vacuum around there and our landlady has been gone for a few days but I sure hope I don't need to beat our rugs.




Isaiah was much more alert and happy today. Sasha showed us a different play area which was really neat to see. I'm assuming maybe the kids play in there when the weather is cold. Isaiah really like the toy rocking pony. When we would stop rocking him he moved his body and motioned that he wanted more. He also reaches his arms out when he wants to be picked up. We went to his groupa's play area outside and put him in the playpen type of thing and he made a vocal sound like he did not want that. Poor guy is always just put in "pens" like this and often times with no toys. He was rocking back and forth most likely just a comfort thing. So sad. He pulled himself to a stand and reached out his arms. He has Darrell wrapped around his little finger because he has to pick him up right away. And then Darrell will put him back in playpen to see if Isaiah REALLY did try to get his wants/needs across to us and once again he pulled to a stand and put out his arms.






When we were outside a nanny "asked" if we wanted a stroller. We said yes as we were looking for the one we had this morning that had "seatbelts". She brought us this red one where the kids sit up really high and have NO seatbelts. I was freaking out that Isaiah would topple over as he does have low muscle tone. When we were out of the nanny's sight we laid Isaiah down where he looked much safer. I have a "thing" for seatbelts if you haven't noticed...haha.



As soon as Mr. Personality saw us today he wanted to be held by me first and then wanted Darrell. The nannies don't allow him to be around us for too long. It is amazing how these kids are trained to behave and are redirected easily most times. We all started on a walk together and Mr. Personality wanted to walk with us but he wasn't allowed too and he REALLY started crying. A nanny took him back to the groupa door until he stopped crying which didn't take long.

We went to a dress store and I tried on a jean summer dress. I was VERY shocked when a worker came right into my dressing room after one little knock and started helping me put the dress on. I'm a very modest person but quickly got over it for the moment as I realized as long as I'm in this country it did not pay to tell her to leave. No one knows the meaning to modesty here...no one. Unbelievable. I sure hope this trend never makes it to the states. We noticed that down here in Nikolaev or at least this part of the city that many people are not stick thin but that does not stop them from wearing very skimpy clothing.

Please pray that our court day will be early next week. It is looking like the SD couple has court on Friday and we are only a couple days behind them in the process. Please also pray for continued safety for those we left behind at home and for us here in Ukraine. Joey made my day today....he Skyped with us TWO times and he was happy and giggly. We were playing peek-a-boo and singing Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Our Saturday & Sunday and some pictures.

On Saturday after we did some paperwork with Sasha with the notary public, who doesn't work on Saturday and was just ready to go to the beach but agreed to come in and do this for us, we went down to Soviet Square which is kind of a main city center area with restaurants and shopping. The only McDonald's in Nikolaev is there too. We had lunch there just to check it out. While we were waiting in line a boy around 10 years old came up to us holding a note. Of course we couldn't read it and shook our heads "no". He then moved on. We ate outside and this same boy came to us again so we gave him 20 grivna (8 grivna is about $1.00). He then took off and Darrell watched where he went but couldn't see. Sasha told us many times parents send their kids out to beg for money and then return the money to parents and they buy Vokda. There is alcohol EVERYWHERE. It is usually the biggest section in the grocery stores...bars on almost every corner. Smoking is also huge here...very cheap to smoke. Darrell tried a few different types of beer and he thinks it is stronger than American beer. I think liver and lung disease will be a problem in the furture here :( Sasha showed us where the only Catholic church was...St. Joseph's. She then took us back to our apartment and later that day we ventured out alone on the city bus system to find Soviet Square alone. It did not go as well as planned. For some reason the bus did not stop where we needed to get off. Then the bus turned into a parking lot with many other buses and everyone got off the bus except us and the lady to takes money. She said something to us and we just looked at each other. We gave her a note that said Soviet Square then she was telling the bus driver. He then walked us to another bus and told that driver where we needed to go. So we finally found the church and tried to find a schedule. The only thing that looked familiar were the numbers...time. There were a few people looking around the church so we asked if they knew English. The mother didn't but 2 daughters knew some. They said mass was at noon on Sunday but the schedule said 9:00am and 12:00pm. We then headed back home on the bus and that went much better. A few more times practicing things should get more familiar but I don't know if I have the guts to try it when Darrell leaves.

SUNDAY...We decided to get up early and go the the 9am mass. The bus ride went much better. When we got on I told the money lady that we wanted Soviet Square so she let us know when were got there. We got to the church and no one was there so we went to McDonald's for coffee...not many choices but it was alright. We then walked around and had breakfast in a restuarant with outdoor seating. Sasha told us about it as it has an English menu. We both had a different type of omelet. It was good. We then went to some shops but felt weird doing it on a Sunday before church. We hope God understands. We found a BIG kids store...toys and clothes. We bought a baptismal outfit for Isaiah and some unique shoes for Noah. I hope to go back there and get a few things for Isaiah from his birth country.

We went back to the church shortly before noon and people were there. It sounded like they were praying the Devine Mercy Chaplet. It was VERY warm in there and many people had little hand fans cooling their faces. Shortly before mass started a priest when inside a confessional just right in the open. Again we couldn't understand anything but people sitting nearby sure could. There were confessions all through mass. People would just get up and go in confessional. We had the Word Among Us with us so we followed along with readings when they were doing readings. When we thought mass was over it really wasn't...there seemed to be another sermon after mass that was about 5 minutes long. We then headed back home and took a nap. We overslept and were a little late to visit Isaiah. He was more tired and cranky today but we don't blame him as this heat is crazy. We are wondering if he doesn't get a nap because the afternoon visit he seems so tired and less smiley.

I whipped together a chicken and rice/veggie dish for supper. Not as easy cooking here. It reminds me of cooking in our camper with very few supplies but it tasted good. Luckily it made enough for 2 meals. The kitchen heats up fast. We don't have AC but we are on the bottom floor with a fan. It is 99% better than our apartment in Kiev. It is so quiet where we are. We are told the police station is right around the corner. It is about a 10 minute walk to the orphanage. I'm so thankful because this part will be so doable when Darrell leaves. For those of you who don't know I'm THE biggest chicken in northern America. I'm hoping and praying God takes this into account and moves the judge to make a decision in our favor but I have my doubts. Sasha told us again that after he waived the 10 days for the Enskat family that he will not do it again especially for a healthy child and thankfully Isaiah is one of those healthy kids.

Some pictures of last couple days...


St. Joseph's Catholic Church...outside.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church...inside.

Our omelets.

At restaurant where we ate breakfast holding the English version menu.

Self explanitory??

We call this little guy Mr. Personality. We would love to find him a home. He is always watching for us. He is always hugging Darrell's leg. He has a big scar on his belly and makes me wonder if he has something similar to our Joey. He does not have Ds. He is in Isaiah's groupa.




We don't think this little boy has had so much fun with a blow up ball. It was so much fun watching him be so joyful. He appears to have cerebral palsy. So many many kiddos who need families. It is heartbreaking to witness. Isaiah has no idea what a lucky little boy he will be to soon be carried out the orphanage gate and never to return. We pray all these kiddos will one day soon walk or be carried out the same gate with their forever families. The picture with the nanny in it is where she is "scolding" Darrell for apparently overprotecting Isaiah. He was making sure he wasn't going to fall back but the nanny came up to him and was saying "no, no let him go...he will be fine."...this is what we are thinking she said b/c she was shooing Darrell away.






The children's toy/clothing store. We always had between 1-3 girls/workers following us around...just standing there watching...not offering help. We think maybe b/c we were carrying bags. When we bought Noah's shoes in a different store we also had 2 ladies following us but they were constantly trying to help us. When I finally decided on a pair the gal took off running downstairs to get them. They must be so thrilled to make a sale. It was only less than a $10 US money sale but they acted like it was $100 sale. Darrell had fun in the farm equipment section.




A women's shoe store. Just a VERY small sampling of what is in style here.



Not sure if men in America wear capris but pretty sure they don't carry man purses and if they do we've never seen it. This is how the typical man looks here.


This one is for you Nick!

Pictures of Isaiah.

DAY ONE...

First time holding Isaiah...this was after lots of hugs and kisses and tears.

Ten minutes after we were there the nanny had me sit down and feed Isaiah a baked apple. We then went outside.



We have a thumb sucker! And a finger chewer. The habit will be hard to break.

DAY TWO...