No rest for the parents of a sick child

Poor little Keith. He isn't doing well. He doesn't want to drink anything - but he has diarrhea, so we HAVE to give him fluids. Since he won't drink on his own, I have to use a medicine dropper to drop pedialite into his mouth. One. Teaspoon. At. A. Time. Can you imagine how long it takes to give him even just a cup of liquid? *sigh* Oh, and he's fighting me the whole time. But, since I've been administering pedialite to him in the way - he's been having wet diapers, so it's working. It's just unpleasant. Tomorrow we're taking him to the doctor for all kinds of things - hopefully they'll be able to help us out with Keith.

I took Kristina to church today. She did beautifully through Sacrament meeting. In Primary they sang to her and she LOVED that. Then I went home to relieve Tyler from keeping Keith (Tyler had to teach in Priesthood). Apparently during the time it took me to get home and for Tyler to arrive, Kristina began hitting and pulling her teacher's hair. *sigh* I'm grateful that her teacher and for Cindy in being patient with our over-stimulated girl on her first day in Primary.

Let's hope it gets better

Not only is Keith sick - he has strept throat, too. Why not? Let's just add any other sickness that's going around so we can get it all out of the way. Keith started getting a rash on his upper chest area and neck and had a fever. We called our friend, Ben, who is a doctor, to help Tyler give Keith a priesthood blessing and to look him over. After some struggles from Keith, Ben got a good look in his throat and said he has strept. Oh boy. That explains his lack of desire to swallow anything. Today has been a battle to help him get any fluids down. He has diarrhea, so he needs to drink but he won't. So I've been using a teaspoon dropper to administer pedialite to my son - one teaspoon at a time. It takes FOREVER, but it should help him stay hydrated. Poor little guy.

Kristina is doing pretty well - the chicken pox are almost completely gone. She's happy. What more could I ask for? (except for Keith to be healthy) My childhood friend, Sarah, drove in to visit me today. I've known her since the 3rd grade. She is an amazing person. Can I just dote on her a bit? She's my age (30) and hasn't had the opportunity to marry (yet). She is a social worker in her state and works with children. She has a sister who has made some choices to have two children, but is unable to care for these children. Sarah stepped forward and has been their legal guardian for over a year now. She takes complete care of these children. She is so generous and kind. Her income barely meets their needs. I wish that I could help her financially as she goes about helping these sweet little girls (ages 5 & 3). She is a great example to me of reaching out to these children so that they can have a bright future. Despite her hard times with money, she shows up at my house with a toy for all 3 of my kids plus some jam for me. What a woman.


Sarah & me

Sarah & Anna

Trying to snuggle Keith.
Pucker up, baby!

Isn't this the sweetest picture ever?!?!

Sleeping, at last...

Our first/last invitation

Today our good friends, Trent & Valene, invited us over for turkey leftovers and games. It was our first time being invited over since we got the kids. We spruced the kids up and they looked great. We were there about 30 minutes and all was well. I realized that Keith's forehead was a little warm. I mentioned it to Tyler and he felt his forehead. I figured that he was fine, since he is usually sweating most of the time. So I put him on the floor and went to get him some lunch. 2 minutes later he threw up all. over. the. place. Wow. We bathed him and changed his clothes (I had thankfully packed an extra set) and I rocked him to sleep. 1 hour later (while he was asleep) he threw up (again) all. over. me. Yeah. Another bath, but not another set of clothes for him. Or me. So homeward bound we went. I hope that Valene will forget the scent of vomit in her home and find it in her to invite us over again. *sigh* The crazy part? Keith gave us NO sign that he wasn't feeling well. It was completely out of the blue. Let's hope it was a 24-hour deal and that he'll be 100% fine soon.

On another note, I have been concerned about Keith & Kristina's lack of clothing. With Keith, well, I've never had a son - so I don't have boys clothes lying around. We bought him a few 3T things at the store after coming home - he has about 5 full outfits and 2 pairs of pajamas. With Kristina - I figured that I'd have lots of clothes for her size, 4T, because Anna was that size a couple of years ago. However, when I went through Anna's clothes, all I found was ONE OUTFIT. *gasp* I must have given away her clothes, thinking that when I finally had another child - we'd have the money to buy new clothes. I'm here to say that we do not have the money to buy a whole wardrobe for Kristina. In fact, after this adoption trip - Christmas is going to be on the lean side in the way of gifts. However, Tyler was cleaning out the garage today and he ran across a tub of clothes that Valerie gave me before I left for Ukraine, which I had forgotten about. I am happy to say that Keith now has 4 pairs of jeans, khaki pants, corduroy pants, several shirts and sweats and coats, shoes, and 4 more pairs of pajamas. Wow. He's totally set, except for some church clothes, and suspenders - because I think a boy needs to wear suspenders & a bowtie, too. (They're SO CUTE!) Anyhow, there were even a few shirts for Kristina. Thanks Valerie!!! I still need more clothes for Kristina - but some variety into her 5 outfit wardrobe is welcome! And these clothes should reduce the daily laundry we've been doing. At least, theoretically.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful today. We celebrated ours last week, so today felt quite strange. No baking. No cooking. No big meal. Just relaxation = very nice. I have many things to be grateful for this year. In fact, my good friend Melisa came down to visit me and to meet our new kids! After lunch, my sweet husband held down the fort while Melisa & I went off to see TWILIGHT! (our second time to see it). It was wonderful, of course! It was sad to see her go - it's hard for good friends to live far away from each other - but here are some pictures.

Melisa has lost some weight & looks AMAZING! Thanks for coming, Melisa!

With all of your leftover turkey, here are 3 recipes for you to try:

Biscuit-topped turkey pie

2 cups chopped cooked turkey
4-6 hard boiled eggs, sliced

1 can corn, drained

salt

pepper

2 2/3 cups chicken (or turkey) broth

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 recipe biscuit dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place chicken in baking dish; cover with sliced eggs and corn. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Mix broth and soup; pour over turkey. Cut dough into rounds with biscuit cutter; arrange over turkey. Bake for 30 minutes or until biscuits are cooked; serve hot. Yield: 6-10 servings.

Turkey Enchiladas

2 cans cream of mushroom soup

2 cans cream of chicken soup

7 oz can diced green chili

1 large onion, diced

1 can olives, sliced (optional)

turkey (cooked & shredded) chicken can be substituted

shredded cheese

1 10 oz can enchilada sauce

ketchup

tortillas

Recipe can be cut in half

Combine soups, chili, onion, olives, & turkey. In greased 9x13 pan, take flour tortilla and spoon 1-2 tbsp of mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Roll up tightly, turn seam to bottom. Up to 16 per pan. Combine enchilada sauce with equal amount of water and 1/3 cup ketchup or to your taste. Pour over top of enchiladas. Sprinkle with cheese. COVER WITH FOIL. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until heated. Let sit for a few minutes before eating.

Linguine & Turkey

12 oz linguine

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz evaporated milk

1 tbsp water

1 1/3 cup chicken or turkey broth

2 cups cooked, shredded turkey

1/2 cup romano or parmesan cheese

Cook linguine according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. In a separate saucepan melt butter over low heat until melted. Stir in flour and salt; add evaporated milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add water and chicken broth. Cook until thick. Stir together turkey, noodles and sauce and pour into casserole dish. Sprinkle with romano cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Here are some pictures from our relaxing day. Keith hasn't been warming up to Maggie (at all) so we had to take some pictures when he was tolerating her pretty well.

Doctor, Doctor! Give me the news!

This afternoon we rode in our newly repaired car ($400 later...) to the on-base hospital for Keith & Kristina's physicals. The appointments were with different doctors and so Tyler took Kristina to her doctor and I took Keith to his.

Kristina's results: she is 4 & 1/2 years old & she is 2nd % in weight (she weighs 28 pounds), 1% in height. She got her immunization shots (5 shots total) her in thighs - poor little girl. She has a referral to see an opthamalogist for her strabismus (very common in orphans) and a psychologist.

Keith's results: he is also 4 & 1/2 years old & he weighs 23 pounds (tiny, people). The doctor said he is functioning at the level of a 6-9 month old child. The doctor brought in a specialist, Randy -who happens to be in our church, and he asked the other (younger) doctor to make a list. Randy listed at least 6 referrals for Keith of various areas, such as gastrointestinal, opthamalogy, hearing, dental, etc. I felt it was a miracle that Randy was brought in to help us with our kids and he showed extra interest and concern about them both.

Tyler wasn't too thrilled with Kristina's doctor and her expertise - so Randy transferred Kristina over to him and to Keith's doctor so they could work on both kids. As Randy named referral after referral, I felt overwhelmed and emotional at the thought that Keith will get the care that he needs to help him progress. It was as if Randy was our own angel helping us with our angel. God continues to bless us with miracles in this adoption journey.

We had an x-ray taken of Keith and the doctor called us back with the results - his tummy is really tight because he's backed up - more than the doctor said he's ever seen in a child. So we've been having fun (not really) with suppositories and enemas this evening. Already this little guy has purged 3 cups from his 23 pound body! (I wonder how much of his weight is his bowels?!) The doctor has labeled him as "ASAP" on all of his appointments, so Keith will see the GI doctor on monday for a "procedure" to clean him out. Poor guy. Also on monday he's due to have blood draws and his immunization shots. Hello Motrin!

Here are some pictures of our blessings:

Kristina eating macaroni & cheese for the very first time. She loved it.

Keith also eating mac'n'cheese & loving it, too. :o)

My babies!

Keith watching a Christmas video. He leans his head way back to see the t.v.

Maggie - scared and curious of the two new kids.
Anna doing homework - very important!

Keith playing with his favorite toy - thanks Valerie!

Beautiful Anna!

Kristina with her first cupcake - yeah, we thought it was important to introduce her to some healthy American snacks. ;o)

Happy girls eating lunch together. :o)

A bump in the road

So we're driving the kids to Keith's doctor's visit today and out of nowhere - our car decides to shut down. For no reason. Well, not that we could easily see. We had to cancel our appointment, find someone to come pick us up, AND find someone to pick up Anna from school. Frustration. We are now a family of 5 with a small pick-up truck for a vehicle. Not good. Not legal.

Tomorrow is our rescheduled doctor's visit. Let's hope we can get there.

Eating and such

Keith only ate pureed food in the orphanage. Since he is four you'd think he would be eating solid foods - not so! In the beginning I fed him baby food, but now I am introducing more solid foods with some success, too! Tonight he ate egg noodles and broccoli (cut into tiny pieces). He ate macaroni & cheese and peas for lunch (neither were pureed). He's definitely making progress, which is exciting! Aside from crackers, Keith will eat anything I give him - which is nice. I'm hoping to help him learn to feed himself. He drinks from a bottle and will hold the bottle all by himself (hooray!) but he doesn't do anything to help with feeding. I'm sure that will come in time. On the sign language front - Keith did his first sign today: "more". He did it twice and very deliberately! I was thrilled - I wasn't sure when/if he'd ever do sign language, so seeing him sign was really encouraging!

Kristina is doing well with her food, but she eats v.e.r.y.s.l.o.w.l.y. It takes her a LONG time to finish her meals. She isn't picky. Tonight she said her broccoli was "kusna" = tasty! I have Kristina drink from a sippy cup. She actually knows how to drink from a cup - but her behavior changes from moment to moment and I don't want for my carpet to meet her cranberry juice because she felt like throwing her cup on the floor. My patience is very low at the end of the day with Kristina. Kristina likes to imitate her sister, Anna. After dinner, we had cookies for dessert. Anna likes to break up her cookies into pieces and then dip them into milk. Kristina decided to follow suit, except she had water in her cup. So she began dipping her cookie pieces into the water. It's amazing how quickly these kids learn! Don't worry - we gave her milk instead!

2 days ago I went through Anna's old clothes - looking for 4T which is Kristina's size - I was surprised to see that I only had one 4T outfit. I guess I gave away all of Anna's clothes. I hope to hit the thrift stores soon - as I MUST have more than one 4T outfit for this active girl!

Tonight we had dinner brought to us - thanks Valene! I feel so blessed to have such kind friends here. We've been given a car seat and some kids clothes! All in all, things are going well. I won't lie - it's not easy. We struggle sometimes, but it's worth it. All of it.

Updates on the kiddos

It's so nice to be able to post pictures whenever I want to! But first an update on how things are going here.

Kristina: she has the chicken pox REALLY bad. It's all over her body. Seriously. Anna hasn't had the chicken pox and I don't remember mine being so bad when I was young. Despite having this all over her - Kristina is such a happy girl! She is always smiling and aims to please. Today she helped me unload the dishwasher. She follows me around the house and wants to be doing whatever her mama is doing. It has taken some adjustment for me - my daughter, Anna, was quite content to do her own thing. However, I am enjoying how much she wants to be with me. And her snuggles and hugs are irresistable. She wears size 4T and LOVES music and dancing. Some pictures of Kristina since we've been home:

Keith: He has a cough right now, poor little guy. And he's pretty constipated. I've been giving him oatmeal, beans, juice, and other foods which should be helping him out - but massaging his tummy is the most effective method thus far. If only he liked the tummy massages. He loathes them and throws big-time fits during them. But they work. I hope his adjustment to the food here will be quick! When he's happy - he's really happy. But when he's sad...well, that's another story. He throws fits pretty often (something he didn't do in the orphanage) and is stubborn, but considering the fact that he can't communicate (he doesn't talk yet) and that his life has been turned upside-down, he's doing pretty good. He wears size 3T which are long enough but usually really baggy on him. He's so scrawny and his ribs stick out - poor thing! He loves string and electrical cords. Some pictures of Keith:

Anna: She enjoys having two younger siblings, but at times it's overwhelming for her. I try to praise her when she behaves well and notice her as much as possible. Since she's so self sufficient, it seems as though I'm busy changing diapers and taking care of the other kids a lot and I want for Anna to feel important to us. She wears size 8 and loves being the "big sister" and telling her siblings what to do. They don't seem to mind this. Yet. Here are some pictures of Anna:

The kids have been enjoying the Christmas decorations. Here are some group pictures of the kids:

Because I can

Here are some pictures! How wonderful it is to be able to upload pictures quickly! Enjoy!
Our first family photo together! We need to get some professional pictures taken soon.
Mama and her adorable kids!

Grandpa ("Pa-Pa") and Daddy with the kids.

Mama & the kids at the McDonald's in Kiev, Ukraine.

The kids with their Aunt Tisha and grandparents.

Keith and his chicken nuggets and french fries which Kristina shared with him. Neither child enjoyed the food at all and were ready to eat as soon as we got home.

Keith has trouble drinking so we opted for a bottle which works really well. Kristina can drink from a cup but I prefer sippy cups when we're out of the kitchen.

What cuties!

Keith was tired of pictures at this point.

Sleeping beauty!Sleeping boy!

Spending time in the apartment in Kiev, Ukraine.

Mama Bigoon gave Keith a haircut - isn't it adorable? I was tired of that 1 inch hair only in the front - I heard that the long hair only in the front is a traditional haircut for Russian boys.

I put some gel in his hair to help it stick up in the front - I've waited so long to do that on a boy!

There were several balloons in the apartment when we arrived - Kristina LOVED it!

Above is a picture of Keith in the overnight train from Donets'k to Kiev, Ukraine.

When Keith gets excited he moves his arms up and down and makes this expression on his face. So funny!

When Keith gets excited or scared he puts his hand over his nose and mouth.

Mama Bigoon with her Ukrainian "grandchildren". She loved playing the part of "Babushka" (Grandma) while I stayed with her in Mariupol.

Galia had fun playing with the kids.

This is the room where Kristina slept in her orphanage (internat).

Keith loves playing with cords, especially black ones.

Below is Galia feeding Borscht to Kristina.

Below is one of the rooms from Kristina's orphanage.

Above is Kristina's bed - the one on the right and below is the main "living room".

Kristina all ready to leave the orphanage with her Mama! Below is Sister Glenn & me after the concert at Mariupol University. Sister Glenn is serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Donets'k, Ukraine. She graduated from Arizona State with a degree in music composition.

Sister Glenn & I with our accompanists.

My accompanist - she was amazing. I sang a Russian piece by Rachmaniov and I was touched by the way the accompanist played the piece by a composer from her country. She played with such emotion. I hope to experience something like that again in the future.

Keith & I in the cab on our way from Keith's orphanage!

Keith getting dressed to leave his orphanage in Artemovsk.

Rooms from Keith's orphanage.

Keith eating before we left.

Keith in his crib the morning of his leaving the orphanage FOREVER!!!

It's dark, but that is his crib in the corner next to the changing table.

Outside Keith's orphanage.

A "pizza" that I had in Donets'k. It was more like an expensive tortilla with sliced tomatoes and cheese on top.

The missionaries and I in Mama Bigoon's living room. We baked an apple pie that night and watched I LOVE LUCY. Fun times.

Br. Igor - a member of the church in Mariupol. He's an engineer and has been taking care of his mom who has severe arthritis for the past 13 years. He's one of the most giving and kind people I've ever met. He's very dedicated to the church and to his mom. He's planning to move to Montreal, Canada, in a month to work there and hopefully find some relief to his mom's suffering.

Mama Bigoon, a sister from the branch who sings/teaches opera, me, Sister Glenn - after our concert that Mama Bigoon organized after church on Sunday.

A group of members who went to see "The taming of the schrew" at the theatre. It was in Russian and I enjoyed seeing it.

Galia eating the brownie sundaes that we made.

Sister Glenn & Yulia.

We made it

We are home! Hooray! We left Ukraine on Tuesday at 1pm and arrived in New York on Tuesday at 5pm. It's funny how the time changes are in international travel, eh? We arrived at 5pm and went through lots of customs and other checkouts, which seemed to last forever! We left the airport in a rental van around 9pm. My father-in-law, Richard, suggested that we drive all night instead of stopping for a hotel. I was eager to be home, so I agreed and ended up driving from 3am to 7am and only got 2 hours of sleep in the van (not while I was driving, though) and I didn't sleep on the plane from Ukraine at all. I mainly tried to keep Keith (Nikita) occupied. On the plane I fed him twice and he threw up twice. Poor little guy. I guess it was motion sickness or something. He slept pretty well on the drive, but Kristina was another story - she didn't sleep on the plane and slept about 30 minutes on the drive, plus we both stayed up all day yesterday and didn't sleep until bedtime. Needless to say - I was EXHAUSTED when I went to bed last night. But it was worth it to drive straight through the night - I was eager to see my hubby, daughter, house, and my puppy, Maggie.

The kids are adjusting quite well, even better than I imagined that they would. Anna had been throwing up for the past few days, so she was especially snuggly when I got home - I didn't mind that at ALL. I was amazed at how much bigger Anna is than the kids. I know you want to see pictures, but I haven't taken any. yet. don't worry. I will take some. I promise. Anna isn't the only sick one here - Kristina finally succumbed to the CHICKEN POX. If I wasn't on house arrest - I am now. She has red bumps all over and it's difficult to communicate to her (in English) that she shouldn't scratch them. Anyone know the Russian for "Don't scratch?" She is handling it like a real champ, though. It's not getting in the way of her extremely positive personality. However, the chicken pox will prevent visitors and probably will keep me home on Sunday so no one else will catch it from her.

My in-laws are wonderful people and it's been great having them here. Since next week is Thanksgiving, we decided to have our Thanksgiving dinner early since my mil, Melanie, fil, Richard, and sil, Tisha, are here. Anna also requested to put up the Christmas decorations since her grandparents are here. So we're doing that, too. Right now a 20 pound turkey is in the oven, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes are ready to be baked and 3 cream pies are in the fridge (chocolate cream, banana cream, & coconut cream - didn't have time/energy to make pumpkin, I'll make that next week, don't worry) plus I'm about to make rolls, green bean casserole, corn and gravy once the turkey is done. I highly recommend brining your turkey this year. So that is the latest with us. Thanks for hanging in there - I'll try to get some pictures up soon. :o)

Update (guest post by Tyler)

Jill has been away from internet access for almost a week now. She has commissioned me to update everyone on the status of the journey.

TUESDAY (11 Nov):

Jill and translator traveled all day long, going from one place to another to get new birth certificates for the children as well as passports. In the middle of the day, Jill ran out of money and found out that she was limited in the amount that she could withdraw from the ATM (~$300 per day). This normally isn’t a problem, except that she had to buy train tickets, pay the hotel, and pay the taxi driver for the entire day of driving. Her stress went through the roof. I saved the day by sending her more money via Western Union. They happily facilitated the resolution of our dilemma; charging a pretty penny for doing so of course. [You know, I am generally very detached from money. As long as we stay above water, I am usually pretty content. However, I am ready for the financial hemorrhaging to stop.] They were able to get all of this done in one day, leaving them exhausted.

WEDNESDAY (12 Nov):

This morning marked the day and time when Jill became the official full-time provider of all things necessary for Keith. What a thrill it was for her to pick him up and assume that role. It became apparent almost immediately that lack of communication was going to be a big challenge. Keith does not understand English, and he does not speak anything nor does he use gestures to communicate his needs. Rather, his one means of communication is to throw a fit. Jill tells me that this occurs at least hourly. Whether he is hungry or needing a diaper change or just plain discontent, he fusses and throws his body about. He is like a 4 ½ year old infant. Jill is fine with this. She has been longing for a baby for SO long. Though he is older, his snuggles and complete dependence on her serve to fill that void.

It took some time before he would eat. Eventually, Jill had to essentially shove the food down his mouth. After the second bite, he dropped his resistance and polished off the meal. Jill has discovered that our little boy is a food snob. He frequently will take one taste of a particular food and then turn his head to the side and fight against being fed. Jill is however winning this battle of wills. She says that it usually takes a few forced bites before Keith accepts the inevitable and eats the food that Jill is giving him.

They then made the trip back to Mariupol just in time for Jill to attend her singing performance at the university. She was delighted to find that they had arranged for her to be accompanied by a professional pianist. She sang 10 songs to a room completely packed with both music students and faculty. After she finished singing, a professional translator facilitated a question and answer period between Jill and the audience. This experience really thrilled Jill.

Our trip to Ukraine was obviously of singular purpose: find and adopt our children. Just prior to leaving, Jill asked for a priesthood blessing, which I supplied. I felt inspired to encourage her to share her talents with the people of Ukraine. She has been able to sing for the orphanage, the missionaries’ English class, in church, a concert after church, and a concert at the university. Neither of us had any idea of the opportunities that God would provide for her to fulfill the counsel to share her talents.

After the music recital, they went to Kristina’s orphanage to pick her up. They proceeded to Mama Bigoon’s house, where they stayed the night.

THURSDAY (13 Nov):

Mama Bigoon and her daughter, Galia, absolutely loved spending the day with Jill and our two new children.

Moment of pure sweetness: Kristina was given a plate with 4 small cookies. She took 2 of them, placed them in front of Keith (not realizing that he is not accustomed to eating solid food), and then returned to eat the remaining 2 cookies. How amazing for a 4 year old to share so selflessly, especially given the facts that she had never met Keith until the day before and that she is coming out of an orphanage where food (particularly treats) are not supplied plentifully. I hear of orphanage kids who hoard food, not share it with helpless strangers.

Jill, Keith, Kristina, and translator then travelled to Donetsk, where they boarded the overnight train headed for Kiev.

FRIDAY (14 Nov):

Jill did not rest well on the train. She woke up about a dozen times before arriving at Kiev early the next morning. Keith and Kristina, however, slept the whole trip. This set up a tired Mama with two energetic kids. This should have been the first clue to a day that was destined to be one of those that you just wish to end.

They went to the doctor for an evaluation of the kids. Jill was sent into the office alone with the kids and was told that the visit should last about 30-45 minutes. Jill found herself in the waiting room for more than 2 hours trying to corral Kristina while dealing with Keith’s constant fits. Kristina would frequently run out of the room, down the hall, and then return. This was great fun for her. Then one time, she didn’t return. Jill had to gather up her stuff, pick up Keith, and go in search of our energetic, adventurous girl. She found her a short way down the hall. An elderly man, who was also waiting to see the doctor, was playing with her. This nice man kept Kristina entertained for over 30 minutes. His help was a great boon for Jill’s ability to cope with the situation. Then came the visit with the doctor.

While this was just a single, overall evaluation: the doctor had some very encouraging things to share.

KEITH: the doctor expressed his opinion, which echoed my own feelings, that he does NOT have cerebral palsy. This could be wrong, but he does not exhibit any behaviors or symptoms indicative of cerebral palsy. The main issue is that he is extremely malnourished, leading to very low energy levels. His little body is so scrawny, his appendages are like little twigs, his ribs are all exposed, while his tummy is large and protruding. Jill does not like to see him without clothes because of the extreme image. The doctor thinks that with proper nutrition and ample attention and stimulation, he should be just fine. My worry is that he has a problem with his digestive system. Why? He eats as much or more than I do. I have seen his feeding in the orphanage, and he was not being underfed. When we first met his primary caregiver, she expressed how Keith was her favorite child and how he was a great eater. I am concerned that he lacks the ability to absorb and/or utilize the nutrients from his food. Only time and further medical evaluation will tell.

A quick note on Keith's progress. First, He is more engaging. It used to be very difficult to get him to look directly at us. He would turn his head and stare off into space. He now looks at Jill more readily and is more responsive to her voice. Second, he is vocal. Immediately after picking him up from the orphanage, Jill began feeding him a steady diet of, “Mama…Mama.” He is now saying it as well. Third, he is mobile. Jill put him at the head of the bed in the apartment in Kiev. She left the room for a time. When she came back, he was on the floor at the foot of the bed. She did not hear a crash, which would normally accompany a fall. Fourth, he can eat solid food. He has a very pronounced overbite, which causes most of his top and bottom teeth to completely miss each other when he closes his mouth. For this reason, he was only fed pureed mush in the orphanage. The doctor told Jill that his back teeth do meet up and that there is no reason he can’t chew back there. Since then, Jill has been slowly implementing some solid foods. He hates it, but Jill is again winning out in this battle of wills.

KRISTINA: She is also malnourished. Similar body as Keith’s, just not as severe. Also, she is delayed in both mental development and fine motor skills. Based on my personal observations of her and some independent research, I believe that she has sensory integration dysfunction (or sensory processing disorder). When I read the description of SID, it was like I was reading a detailed description of Kristina’s daily activity. Occupational therapy can help overcome many if not all of the symptoms of this condition. I was visiting with a co-worker about our adoption in general. He mentioned that his wife is an occupational therapist and that they would be happy to come over to our house to see the kids after they get home. When I mentioned that I think that Kristina has SID, he commented that his wife specializes in pediatric sensory integration problems. What a blessing to have such a resource right when we bring them home.

A note on Kristina: First, she is very happy. She gets excited about everything. When Jill turns on the water for a bath, she runs to the bathroom and begins tearing her clothes off as fast as she can. Keith, on the other hand, begins crying when he hears the bath water. He continues to cry all throughout the bath. Poor little guy. Second, Kristina is very sweet with Keith. I already mentioned the cookie episode. On another occasion, Jill had left both of the kids on a bed watching a cartoon. From the other room she heard Keith laughing. She peeked around the corner to see what the excitement was. Kristina had discovered that whenever she pulled her sippy cup out of her mouth really fast Keith would laugh. He found it very funny for some reason. Seeing his amusement, she proceeded to do it over and over, much to his enjoyment. Third, she is very smart. She is picking up sign language and English words very quickly. The first time she was given a bath; she sat in the tub with a big smile and made the sign for “more” over and over. Yeah, she likes taking baths.

After the doctor visit, Jill was taken to the U.S. Consulate. Again, she ventured inside alone. Fortunately, this visit was shorter. I had already filled out all of the paperwork before she arrived. All she had to do was sign the documents.

I mention this next part only to give some insight into Jill’s emotional state at this time. Personal relations with the translator had deteriorated. Our relationship with our facilitator always felt rather cold. We never doubted their ability to get the job done. In that regard, they never did fail. But the human touch in what is a very emotional and life changing experience was not there. Consideration for Jill’s feelings went out the widow. Snide remarks were made toward her on multiple occasions. No apparent sympathy was shown when she broke down in tears from being overwhelmed. Needless to say, contact information with the hope of staying in touch has not been exchanged.

Then Kristina threw up in the taxi. After a stop at the grocery store, Jill and the kids were dropped off at the apartment.

My parents and sister decided that they would travel to Ukraine to help Jill in bringing the kids home [side note: all 3 of them have never been on an airplane before]. Their flight into Kiev was scheduled to arrive late Friday morning. This would have put them arriving at the apartment at roughly the same time that Jill was dropped off. This would have allowed Jill to take the nap that she was desperately needing. The only problem is that their flight into New York was delayed, which prevented them from making their connecting flight to Kiev. The next flight was 24 hours later. This left Jill all on her own for the next 24 hours.

Shortly after arriving to the apartment, Jill walked out of one room to get something from another room. She hears an enormous CRASH. She goes back into the room to find that Kristina had knocked over a large glass lamp, shattering it into millions of pieces all over the floor. There went any sense of safety in leaving Kristina alone. Not to mention the fear of not getting the floor completely picked up of all sharp glass. Not to mention the bill for the broken lamp (which will undoubtedly be priced at some ridiculous amount) on top of an already tight budget. Need I go on?

At this point, Jill called me on the phone. Her effort to share the difficulty of the day spiraled into uncontrolled sobs. This is the worst thing for a husband: to have your sweet wife in such a condition and to be unable to provide any real comfort. Telling her how Anna and I were having a great time back at home just didn’t seem to be an effective way of calming her troubled heart. I could only assure her that she is loved by her family and that she will be home soon. As I was trying to communicate this, Kristina interrupted the conversation. She had walked up to Jill in the living room, having come from the bedroom where she was laying down. I hear Jill say, “Why are you wet?” A few moments later I hear, “Oh no?... Kristina just threw up on the bed. I gotta go.” That was the end of our conversation and the end of Jill’s terrible day.

SATURDAY (15 Nov):

My family arrived in Kiev and provided Jill with the caring support that she so desperately needed. All of my family members are loving their time with the new children.

SUNDAY (16 Nov):

Everybody went to church. They attended an English speaking ward in Kiev. I am told that Keith and Kristina both were very well behaved.

Later in the day, my parents and sister went out walking around Kiev. They got lost and had to ask several people for help in finding their way back to the apartment (they did have an address). Perhaps I am the only one who fully appreciates this little vignette, knowing that these three have barely ventured outside of Oklahoma for their entire lives. Now they are trying to communicate with total strangers in a foreign language. When I was trying to prepare my dad for what to expect, I told him that Kiev is a big city. His response, “What, a few hundred thousand people?” “No, Dad. More like 2.7 million people.” “Oh.” I love my family!

WHAT’S LEFT?

MONDAY (17 Nov):

Go back to the U.S. Consulate to pick up the visas for Keith and Kristina and pay the immigration fees. Do some more sightseeing of Kiev.

TUESDAY (18 Nov):

Fly from Kiev to New York City. Pick up rental car and begin the drive back to Ohio. Stop at hotel.

WEDNESDAY (19 Nov):

Arrive home to the elation of all. After getting the children to bed, leave the men in charge and attend a midnight viewing of Twilight.

THURSDAY (20 Nov):

SLEEP!!!! Cook and share Thanksgiving meal with family before they return to Oklahoma.


Update on the homefront: Anna and I have been staying up late and eating pizza, macaroni and cheese, and junk food. On several occassions I hear the phrases, "That's not how Mama does it." and "Mama does this way better." For example, I tried putting her hair up into a pony tail for school. When I finished, she looked at it in the mirror and started laughing. So it was a little crooked. What more can you ask out of a dad. Bottom line, we not only want our Mama home; we NEED her home!

Follow up

Lest there be any confusion, I want to clarify a few points.

First, I do NOT think ill of Ukraine or its people. For the most part, I found it to be a very nice country with friendly people. I was a bit nervous about how we would be received as Americans. I have heard that we are not liked very well around the world right now. With the war and the American economy pulling everyone else into a financial death spiral, I prepared myself for a very cool reception at best. I found the opposite to be the case. People were very warm and kind. The experience that we had with the stolen money can tend to leave a bad taste in the mouth. A guess there is not a place on earth that doesn’t have at least a few scoundrels. However, the positive experiences we had FAR outweigh this one negative one.

OK, so that was the one point that I wanted to clarify.

Jill "Monk" the Inspector and You the Jury (guest post by Tyler)

"Here's what happened:"

Carrying large amounts of cash can be very uncomfortable. International adoption thrusts us into this situation. Walking around with literally tens of thousands of dollars on your person while passing people on the street who get by on so very little leads to some very sensational and scary daydreams. The really scary thing is that these daydreams are not far from what could be reality.

This being the case, Jill and I discussed what to do about our money situation. We finally concluded that we would carry part of it in a money purse under our clothes. The other part would be carefully packed away in our luggage. One day while preparing to travel to another town I discovered that our money supply had shrunk. I went over all of our expenses several times and concluded that there was no way around it: someone had stolen some money. They didn’t take all of it; just enough to be overlooked, or so they thought.

I retraced all of our travels and narrowed it down to a certain time period. I was 90% sure that a worker of the hotel where we were staying had done the deed. Our translator assured us that it was a very respectable establishment and that all of our belongings were safe there. [During our entire trip, every time a decision had to be made regarding transportation or lodging, our facilitator & translator insisted that we use something comfortable and safe. This often compounded our money difficulties because we were always staying at the more expensive places. I guess a bad experience reflects poorly on their job of making our adoption one that is safe, smooth, enjoyable, memorable, successful, etc. Perhaps for this reason she tried to attribute our lost money to some other cause.]

When we returned to this town, we again stayed at that hotel. At my request, the translator accompanied me to visit with the hotel manager. In reality, this hotel was more of a large bed and breakfast. The owner/operators were about 4-5 members of one family, as far as I could ascertain. We explained the situation with the stolen money. They insisted that it was impossible that anyone at the hotel could have done it. The went on and on about how the success of their business relies on their good reputation and that in twenty years they had never had a single episode in which anything had been taken from a customer. They topped it off by swearing upon their lives and the lives of their children that they had not done this thing. I of course realized that I was unable to prove who stole our money. In an effort to diplomatically navigate the situation, I told them that I was not accusing them of doing it; rather, I was explaining that we did have some money stolen from SOMEWHERE. As a result, we were very uncomfortable in general and requested that nobody enter our room, not even for cleaning or fresh towels. They assured us that everything was safe in their hotel; however, if we wished to be left alone, they would honor the request.

Jill and I were very disturbed by this experience. In truth, we did not know for sure who had taken our money. More than the money, we felt that we could not trust ANYONE. We were looking at everyone and thinking, “Maybe it was them.” The anonymity of the crime left us projecting guilt onto everyone, even complete strangers on the street. It was as if an entire country and all of its people had united to take advantage of the rich Americans who are actually quite poor. This state of mind was obviously the result of a fresh wound being laid on top of fatigue, traveler’s diarrhea, a tight schedule with which to complete a mountain of legal documents, an increasing concern about being stranded in Ukraine due to running out of money, and the general uneasiness associated with being in a foreign environment where you cannot communicate with anybody.

Fortunately, this universal condemnation passed within a short amount of time. Finding the church and spending time with the Saints did a lot to help restore our faith in the goodness of people everywhere.

When I was leaving Ukraine, Jill had two options: 1. stay at the hotel in question all by herself for the entire 10 day waiting period or 2. stay with Mama Bigoon, of whom Jill has written so much. Our facilitator was very concerned about Jill moving in with a complete stranger that she had just met a few days prior. It is hard to explain how the gospel gives us instant rapport and a bond of love with members of the church throughout the world. Despite the relatively poor condition of her home, which is located in what our translator considered to be an unsafe part of town, Jill opted for Mama Bigoon’s home and never felt safer during the entire trip.

Now that the 10 day waiting period is over, Jill has begun the marathon journey of: traveling 3 hours to Artemovsk to get the court decree, traveling an hour and a half to Donetsk to gather all of the legal documents which make Keith and Kristina ours, traveling back to Artemovsk to pick up Keith, travel 3 hours to Mariupol, make the first and only stop on her European concert tour, pick up Kristina, travel on the overnight train to Kiev, spend 1-2 days meeting with doctors and U.S. Embassy folks so that Keith and Kristina will be admitted into the good ole U. S. of A., their new home.

This last stretch of the journey of course cannot be completed in one day. As timing would have it, Jill is of necessity staying two more nights in Artemovsk, home to the “Nostalgia Hotel.” After staying the first night, and before leaving for what was one of the busiest days of the entire trip, Jill placed a trap. She neatly packed her luggage in a very specific order, taking pictures of everything. When she returned…..? You guessed it. Her luggage was indeed neatly packed BUT not in the same way that she had packed it. She again took pictures, with the changes visibly apparent. If Jill were writing this post, I am sure that she would include the pictures as evidence.

There was nothing missing, as Jill did not leave anything of value to be taken. Nevertheless, what nerve. After being accused of stealing money and being asked to not even enter the room, to press on in rifling through someone’s luggage. Talk about someone who can’t control themselves. When presented with the pictures, they had no answer except that they had not done it. What else can you expect them to say. Well, they should be glad that I wasn’t there when this went down. I would have had a few choice words to share, though I doubt our translator would have consented to their translation.

There it is. I have presented the facts as I know them. You, the reading audience be the judge. Guilty or not? As for me, I will defer to, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” The only judgment that I pass is that the Nostalgia Hotel is one place that will not live up to its name, at least in our minds.

It's almost legal

Tomorrow will mark the officiality of our being parents to Keith & Kristina. Can you believe it? We began this process back in April of this year and look how far we've come! God has truly watched over us and blessed with many miracles throughout our adoption process. I am grateful to Him for his love and care for His children.

On Sunday we went to church. It was the first time I've taken the Sacrament in 6 weeks! Oh, how I've missed Sacrament meeting! I sang a special musical number, "Love One Another" and that went well. After I sang someone said "Bravo". That was a first for me during church. After church, Mama Bigoon scheduled a concert for me to sing for the members of the branch. Only about 50 members were in Sacrament meeting, so I prepared myself for 5-10 people at the concert. I was surprised to see 40 people there! I sang "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka, "Standchen" by Schubert, "Heavenly Father loves me" from the Primary Songbook, "I am a child of God" from the Primary Songbook, "Angels we have heard on high", "Silent Night", "I know that my Redeemer lives", and "What child is this?". I was pleased that everyone enjoyed the music. I've never given a concert before - so it was a real first for me!

After the concert, a woman approached me from the branch and said she is a professor at a University in Mariupol. She asked if I would come and give a concert at the college. I was blown away and said "YES!" So now I'm trying to prepare for the concert (it will be on wednesday), and my wonderful husband scanned my music and emailed it to me so I could have it to sing. It's amazing how God has blessed me to be able to strengthen my musical talent while I am here to adopt our wonderful children. It is definitely true that when you put your will in God's hands - He can bless you in ways that you never could imagine!

After the concert, I made a meal for the Bigoon family and the missionaries. I made Chicken Alfredo Pasta, garlic bread, peas, and homemade apple pie. Everyone loved it and it was nice to taste something from home. I love to cook and it's hard to not be able to cook here in Ukraine!

This morning I went to see Kristina. She doesn't have the chicken pox - thank you for your prayers! God is truly blessing Kristina with good health - many of her fellow friends in her groupa have the chicken pox and Kristina, herself, is malnourished and so it has been a HUGE worry of mine that her little immune system wouldn't be able to be strong with such a contagious disease, but, once again, God is blessing us and I am so grateful to Him!

After the orphanage we went and bought clothes for Keith - it was my first time to buy boy's clothes and it was so fun! I am excited about having a son! Afterwards we went back to Mama Bigoon's house to load up my stuff. As I starting packing up the last few items, I noticed that Mama Bigoon (Anna is her given name) was crying. She hugged me and said that she wished I could stay here forever. In one week I have developed a bond with this woman that is so strong. She has told me that she loves me over and over. She has loved me as she loves her daughters and has cared for me as she does her daughters. I am so blessed to know her and it was hard to drive away from her humble home. The gospel of Jesus Christ can bring together two women who didn't know each other beforehand to form a solid friendship in one week. Amazing.

My translator, Oksana, & I arrived in Artemovsk this afternoon. I dropped off my luggage and went straight to see Keith in the orphanage. Oh, how I've missed my boy! He recognized me instantly and smiled - so wonderful to see! We snuggled and spent an hour together. I can't wait to take him with me either tomorrow or wednesday. Stay tuned for more details!

Habla espanol?

Yesterday’s post:
It’s hard to believe that I’ve almost been at the Bigoon’s for 7 days. These days have been wonderful! I hope to take home the things that I have learned from this humble family and apply them in my own family. Part of me will always be here in Ukraine. This journey has been difficult, but it has also been rewarding. I’ve already stated how sad I am that I haven’t learned a lot of Russian. I speak English (naturally), Spanish, and some Chinese. I’ve also studied some Italian & French. Of course none of these languages help me much in Ukraine, right? WRONG! Would you believe that my host, Mama Bigoon, studied Spanish 30 years ago and still remembers it to this day??? I am thrilled to say that we can communicate without a translator! How amazing that I would be speaking Spanish in Ukraine. I never would have thought it possible. I didn’t get to go see Kristina today, which was sad. This morning I went to the Central Renick (spelling?) where they have several stands selling things. It’s very similar to the night markets that are in Taiwan – except this market is in the morning only. I bought some sparkly pink nail polish to paint Kristina’s nails and some white clothing for my Mother-in-law to make some blessing/Temple clothing for the kids. To learn more about the Temple, click HERE. It was VERY cold outside today. I haven’t had to wear my coat much this whole trip – but I really needed it today. In fact, before I left the house, Mama Bigoon encouraged me to take my coat. I told her that it was sunny outside – and that it would surely warm up as the day went on. How wrong I was. I can’t remember the last time I was that cold and the Central Renick is an outdoor affair. Yeah. I won’t make that mistake again. Starting tomorrow I will be wearing my coat and my new stylish hat everywhere I go. J I went with the Sister missionaries to visit Yulia and her grandmother. We sang about 10 hymns before the spiritual thought. I’ve never seen people who love the church hymns as much as the people in Ukraine. They want to sing them all the time and their favorite hymn is “Angels We Have Heard On High”, which they sing year-round. J Yulia’s house is the most primitive that I have seen. And yet, like all the LDS people that I’ve met here – they are happy. Yulia’s babushka (grandma) made us a tasty lunch of soup (everything from her own garden), bread, and blinchiki (spelling?) which are very tasty Ukrainian pancakes – similar to crepes. Their hospitality was amazing. There was another woman there, 94 years old, who I assumed was Yulia’s great grandmother. Come to find out – she isn’t related to them at all, she’s a poor, blind woman with no family around and Yulia’s grandmother has taken her in and cares for her – such kindness and generosity! I hope that I can help people the way that Yulia’s family has done. When it was time to go to the orphanage this afternoon, I wasn’t feeling very well, so I stayed inside and took a nap. I don’t like taking chances by possibly being sick and giving it to the children at the orphanage, but I was sad to not have seen Kristina at all today. After some rest, I am feeling better and plan on going tomorrow morning. Tonight I went grocery shopping with Galia. I am going to make dinner for she and her Mama and the sister missionaries on Sunday. When we got home, Mama Bigoon made us some fried potatoes. Oh. My. Goodness. They were amazing! She said she wished she would have known that I liked them and then she would have been making them for me everyday. What a sweet woman. I bought ingredients for brownie sundaes and made them tonight for Galia & her Mom. They LOVED them. It’s interesting that they don’t have brownie mixes or cake mixes here. They had some brownies (shaped like muffins) in the bakery section and those are what we used – they were tasty! I bought some chocolate syrup – which is unheard of here to use, even though they sell it. Galia was excited about the chocolate syrup. She LOVES chocolate.

Today's post:
I went to see Kristina this morning. She looked well - no chicken pox, at least visibly. I asked one of her caretakers (a very nice blonde lady) and she said she hasn't seen any chicken pox on her yet, so that's good. I plan to pick her up from the orphanage next wednesday, so I pray she won't get it before then. My translator said that if she contracts the chicken pox, we will HAVE to wait 5-7 days before we can leave. I pray that she will be happy and healthy next wednesday when I go to take her home. As for the visit itself, it went pretty well. She ate most of an orange before deciding it would be more fun to smear it all over the glass door. *sigh* Sometimes I feel my patience is waning with her, which frustrates me because it can be after only 10 minutes of my visit with her! And being alone here doesn't help. I'm looking forward to being home with my husband - this "single parenting" isn't easy!

This afternoon I went with the Sister Missionaries to teach Vittali, a very nice man who is genuinely interested in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about how families can be eternal families. After a wonderful visit with him, we went to get Sharma (that yummy chicken wrap I've mentioned before). Tonight we're going to see "Taming of the Shrew" at the theatre with members of the branch. I'm very excited to see it!

Tomorrow I will be singing in church and after church, Mama Bigoon has arranged a musical program for me to sing for the members of the branch. That should be fun. And tomorrow night I will be making an Italian dinner for the Bigoon family. It's hard to believe that on Tuesday morning our 10 day wait will be over! So on Monday I will go with my translator, Oksana, to Artemovsk to get the ball rolling on some paper. I don't know when I'll be able to blog after today - but I will do my best. And now, here are some pictures! Enjoy!


Galia Bigoon

Yulia's babuska cooking for us!

Mama Bigoon making me potatoes!

Fun with oranges - I'm trying to up her immune system with some vitamin C - let's hope it works!!!

Kristina really enjoyed the legos.

This is where I've been trying to spend time with Kristina.

The lobby with the stairs - crazy scary!

This is the seat directly across from the stairs. Try keeping a hyper 4 year-old on this couch for 30 minutes...not possible.

This is in the area I'm meeting with her now.

I bring Kristina a juicebox at every visit. I'm concerned that she's not getting enough to drink - because Ukrainians don't drink much, except for alcohol.

Kristina isn't really pulling my hair or slapping me now, but she's being destructive with other objects, like this poor leaf. I hope to be able to teach her to NOT do this sort of thing.

We love the juicebox!

A moment with Keith. Isn't he adorable?

This is what many of the internet cafes look like.

dark picture of goats that they use to "cut the grass". Driving down the road you will see 3 or 4 goats tied to a stake in the ground and they're eating away at the grass.

crazy tag! Look how LONG it is!

Keith walking with "Papa".

More walking!

The first word I learned in Russian was "Cobaca" which means "Dog" and here is a sweet dog that I began calling "Cobaca" (original, I know) while in Artemovsk. She was a great little protector of that hotel.

I spoke too soon

After 3 wonderful visits with Kristina, the last two have been rough. After reading this article I am beginning to think that Kristina may have ADHD. She seems to have some of the attributes of ADHD. I feel strongly about not labeling children with this or that - so I won't say she does have ADHD. I, myself, have ADD, so I know something about that, but I'm not a doctor or anything so I won't diagnose her as such. Rather, it's something I'm going to keep in mind when I take her to the doctor back in the states.

I was frustrated when I talked with a caretaker today. She actually speaks some English and I was asking her if she would translate some thing to Kristina for me. Whenever I meet with Kristina upstairs, it's in a small landing area by the stairwell - a terrible location for playing with kids. Kristina seems to thrive on the attention she will get from me by trying to go down the stairs. She's quite clumsy anyhow, so of course I'm concerned about her falling down the stairs. Today I decided to pretend it didn't bother me - in case she was just doing it for attention. I didn't freak out or anything and I was amazed at how well she up & down the stairs by herself. That was encouraging to me, but then when she wanted to go down the stairs again, I said "Nyet", and she didn't obey. She speaks Russian. She knows what "Nyet" means. So I asked the caretaker to explain to Kristina that I don't want her on the stairs because she could hurt herself. The caretaker responded to me by saying that Kristina won't understand that because she has a poor mind. Are you kidding me?! She's already saying 4 English words and doing 8 signs (in sign language). Yeah, that means she's got a POOR MIND, lady!! Then she told me that she wouldn't be very smart and would probably be a singer or a dancer. Yeah, like what is THAT supposed to mean?!?! I'm a singer - does that mean I have a poor mind? Grrr.

In more pressing news, today my translator calls me and says that many of the kids in Kristina's groupa have contracted chicken pox. She also says that Kristina hasn't had chicken pox yet, and that they were concerned about her contracting it and then we wouldn't be able to leave next wednesday for Kiev as planned. This is a problem in a few ways: I'm ready to take my babies home to the USA and the airline tickets have already been purchased to leave Ukraine. Plus we have to have enough time to visit the US Embassy and the medical doctors in Kiev before we can go. I ask for your prayers that either Kristina will have a strong immune system and will be able to avoid contracting it at all or that she will have it and get over it quickly. I saw her today and she felt feverish - not a good sign. :o( So, tell me, ladies - what can I do? Do you know any chicken pox remedies? Any major immune boosting fruits/veggies? At any rate, your prayers are greatly appreciated!!!

Can you believe it?

I've posted on here 2 days in a row! Woo-hoo! Here is today's proud sponsor of this post: I am grateful for the production of Pringles in Ukraine. Expensive as they are (16 gryvnia each - about $3.20 per can) they are so worth the money. And they are portable! This brings me to the point that there aren't any fast food places in Ukraine - no drive-thrus, just sit down restaurants. I'll bet that if I opened a Sonic here, it'd be successful. Not to mention, it would make me happy. I enjoy Ukrainian food, but it doesn't like me - so I'm always on the hunt for anything "normal". It's funny, because, I don't ever buy pringles in the states - but it doesn't cause me to be in the bathroom all day like other authentic foods here. *sigh* On the topic of restrooms - I've noticed that most public restrooms have no toilet paper, but at the orphanage they have complementary pieces of magazine paper to use. Nice. And they don't flush that paper down the toilet - they throw the used paper into a trashcan next to the toilet. Now there's some air freshner that I could live without.

Things with Kristina are going really well. She hasn't pulled my hair or slapped me in 2 days now. I'm trying to speak more English with her now. Don't misunderstand - I don't speak Russian, I just want to say "Yes" instead of "Da" and "No" instead of "Nyet"...you get the idea. If I could go back in time, I would have taken a quarter of Russian before coming here. I feel like I missed an opportunity to learn a foreign language because I wasn't more prepared. What an opportunity this would have been to learn Russian - being here for a whole month! It's a strange thing - speaking English to a girl who is fluent in Russian.

We played outside this morning and there were other children from the orphanage outside as well. One girl has pronounced FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome) and was very sweet and ran right up to me and wanted to snuggle with me. I think a misconception that I had about orphanages before I came to Ukraine was that I assumed all children in the orphanage were available for adoption. In fact, many are not available. Some are there because the family cannot afford to care for them. Some are there and receive visits from grandparents or other family members. All of the children call the caretakers "Mama". And when the children see me, they call me "Mama" as well. I wish I could "Mama" for all of them. They are such precious children.

One thing I have noticed is that most rooms where the "groupas" are have televisions and dvd players - but when I pass by the tv, it has adult music videos on with shady outfits and not children-appropriate lyrics. I wonder if it would be possible to donate Russian educational dvds for children. They might as well be learning while they are there, right? Any thoughts/ideas on this? And on the subject of learning - how did you teach your Russian-speaking children to learn English?

Update on things here in Ukraine

Things are going quite well here in Ukraine. Today is Nov 4th - which means we're on day 4 of the 10 day waiting period. I've been to visit Kristina 3x since Tyler left for the US. I have taken the advice about having more calm visits with Kristina - and I think it's helping! We mainly read books, sing, and play on the piano. There are times when I can tell she needs to get some energy out and she runs around the room, but when she's ready we do more calm activities.

It's crazy to think that we will have two children at the age of 4. They are less than a month different in age. I don't know about anyone else, but I was hoping to adopt children in different ages so it wouldn't SCREAM adoption. I have no problem with adoption - I'm doing it and I think it's great - but in the future whenever anyone asks me the ages of my children, it will be 6, 4, and 4. And they'll say: "Oh, twins." And I'll say: "No, adopted." Anyone know what I'm talking about?

I'm staying with Mama Bigoon and it's been grand so far. Staying with her is very eye-opening about how some of the more poor Ukrainians live. She has running water - but it's very expensive to use water - so they have to conserve it. My showers consist of me filling up a pitcher of water and pouring it over my head in a bathtub. Oh, and they only have cold water. After Mama Bigoon bought the house, they found out that there isn't a septic pipe. At all. So, their toilet isn't hooked up to anything. Galia (Mama Bigoon's daughter who speaks some English) explained to me that there is just a pit below the house that collects their sewage and that once in a while it overflows and they have to clean it up. GAG. Septic pipes are just one of the many things I am grateful to have in my home. I'm not sure how it all works, but after you use the toilet - you pour water down into the toilet bowl and that somehow forces the contents down out of the toilet...I'm guessing down into that pit beneath the house. Wow.

They don't have beds - just two old mattresses on the floor. Many of the walls aren't enclosed with dry wall and you can see the bricks. Some of the floor isn't quite level and I feel like there isn't much beneath it when I walk around. Despite everything that most people would say they are "lacking" in material needs/wants - they are so happy. They are very content to be together. It makes me realize how caught up I get in things back home. I'm always thinking about ways to redecorate my home and make it more attractive. This family doesn't have a kitchen table - and didn't even have a couch before yesterday. Since I don't have to stay in a hotel and pay money towards that these 10 days, we (Tyler & I) decided to apply that money towards a couch for Mama Bigoon. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to give something to someone who really needs it. She was SO surprised when the couch arrived yesterday afternoon. Her expression was priceless. Those are the moments that I live for - helping others. She is such a kind person - opening up her home to me and to many others. Every monday she has FHE in her home and invites the missionaries and any other members to come. It feels great to bless the life of someone who blesses others so freely.

It's picture time, baby

3 hours on the computer and here we go: The celebration of "FALL" at Kristina's orphanage in Mariupol.

Fun with Kristina outside! The children in her "groupa" flocked to us whenever we were around them. It was fun, but sad at the same time. I hope they can find a family for each of them.

Note the hideous puffy shirt on the bottom right of this collage. She wore this shirt on the day we had her passport pictures taken. I assumed that her passport picture would only show her face, like mine does. However, when we picked up the pictures later - it showed down to her shoulders. So this not-so-pretty shirt will be on her passport for the next few years...nice.

Our trip to see the Azoz Sea with the sister missionaries. The bottom right picture displays just SOME of the 2 liter bottles of water that we went through in one week's time in Mariupol. You can't drink the water here in Ukraine, and we Americans, love to drink water...

Above pictures show us getting "SHARMA": the tasty chicken wrap in Mariupol. The bottom two pictures show a ship memorial near the Azoz Sea. The Azoz Sea runs into the Black Sea.

Pictures of our hotel. How do you like the laundry web that Tyler came up with to dry our clothes? Nice, eh?

Top left: FHE at Mama Bigoon's house. Top right: Borscht made by this Sister missionary for us. Bottom: Ingredients to make No-bake cookies.

Above: pictures of Keith and his orphanage in Artemovsk. Such a cutie!

Top picture: me singing to Kristina's "groupa". Kristina is the girl in the pink shirt on the floor listening. Bottom picture: Oksana, our interpreter, with 2 children from the "groupa". You may notice that all of the children rotate in the clothing. No child owns any clothing and they don't have any problem with dressing a boy in girl's clothing or the other way around.

The outside of Kristina's orphanage, plus pictures of Kristina in a pretty red dress - what a doll!

Top left: notice the trees with the white on the bottoms - apparantly it's used to keep bugs off the trees. Top right: a hat I bought in the open market. What do you think? Is it me? Bottom left: Tyler standing with a Kozack on the day the Russian Orthodox priest came to baptize the orphans in Keith's orphanage. Bottom right: the candy we bought on Halloween from the store. We had to celebrate, right?

We bought some cereal: Nesquik! Tyler has found some white chocolate long cookies that he enjoys. What do you think of our bagged strawberry ice cream?

Above is Yl'ana! Isn't she adorable? She is 16 and I hope to bring her to the US as a foreign exchange student. The group picture is of Yl'ana's grandpa, brother, the missionaries and me.

Above is the brand new church building in Donets'k. It was just dedicated the week before the District Conference that we attended. Here is the bus we rode in to get there from Mariupol. It takes an hour by taxi, but by bus it took 2 hours...

Hotel in Artemovsk. This toilet doesn't have a button on top, but a knob that you pull up to flush.

Court date

Our court date was yesterday in Artemovsk. I was concerned that having our adoption court date on Halloween was a bad omen, but everything went splendidly! The court session was about 30 minutes long and the judge was a VERY nice man. Some of the things that happened: they made sure our names were correct on the paperwork and the names of our children were correct, then asked Tyler about his occupation, annual income, religious convictions, and our ability to care for these children medically. At the end, my translator asked the judge if he wanted to hear me sing. He said he would and I sang "Zdes Khorosho" for him. It was probably the very best I have ever sung the song, which pleased me to no end. I didn't video it because it wasn't allowed, since we were in court. He seemed to enjoy it and those in the court told me how nice it was. There were even some people in the hallways that wanted to know who was singing. My translator said it was probably the first time ever that someone had sung for the judge. :o) The most important thing of all? Keith & Kristina are 99% ours! We have the 10 day waiting period and then it's legal! WOO-HOO! :o)

We've been meeting with Keith and that has been going well. His caretakers told us that he is progressing very fast lately. Yesterday he stood up in his crib (unassisted) and grabbed the baby powder on the changing table (right next to his crib) and squeezed out the baby powder ALL over the table! The caretakers were thrilled with the fact that he stood up with no help at all - it's easy to see how much they care for him. The orphanage director asked if I would email her videos of Keith walking on his own, once he learns to do it. I am happy that Keith has received so much love from these women throughout his life.

Yesterday the Russian Orthodox priest came to the orphanage and baptized ALL of the orphans (except Keith - in the LDS church, children are baptized when they are 8 years old, when they are old enough and accountable). It was interesting because along with the priests came the Kozacks - a group of men that looked military in their uniforms, but we were informed that they aren't military - but a group of men focused on the community. Perhaps like Kiwanis club? I'm really not sure - does anyone know who the Kozacks are?

Someone mentioned that I can bring my laptop into the internet cafe here in Artemovsk and can access the internet that way. If so, I hope to upload some videos/pictures soon. We met a couple from Mexico today at the orphanage. They are young, catholic, and are adopting a sibling group of 5 children, ages: 6, 5, 3, & 2 year-old twins! They are about to be VERY busy! Who would imagine that I would be speaking spanish in Ukraine! It was nice to be able to speak SOMETHING, though. The language barrier can be frustrating. Today we went to an outdoor market and I bought a really cute hat and then we stopped at a place selling doughnuts - can you believe that make them here?!? However, once I got up to the stand, I couldn't tell the woman what I wanted. I had to point to another person who had just bought doughnuts to tell her what I wanted and then she asked me a question - but I had no clue what she was saying...sheesh. We managed to get away with 3 doughnuts for 30 cents total! (and they were tasty, too!)

I want to thank those who have been caring for my sweet Anna girl, especially Michele. Thank you so much!!! And I want to tell my daughter, Anna, how much I miss her! Did you have a fun Halloween? I can't wait to see some pictures of you in your costume. Did you enjoy trick-or-treating? How much candy did you get? I surely do miss you! Love, ~Mama~