Elbert Adoption Journey

Whew, what a summer!

2007-08-22T19:24:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted anything since May! The summer has been quite full and now that school is back in session, I have a little (very little) more time to breathe.

June was very full. We went to Texas first and spent 10 days with my family. This gave the kids time to know their Texas cousins and spend time with Opa and Oma. The cousins all got along well to together and we had a great time. The trip also helped Papa and Gideon bond a little more since Papa was always around all the time. It was so good to be with my family and I felt the knot of tension and fatigue I had been carrying since December begin to loosen a little.

Four days after returning from Texas, we drove to Jacksonville, FL for my graduation for my doctorate. It was a fast but wonderful trip. There were a few temper tantrums from both kids but that is to be expected. Being back with my school friends and in that environment was a wonderful balm for me as well.

Four days after returning from Florida, Nina went with the youth from our church on a mission trip to Mississippi to help with the continuing clean up efforts. She had a great time, although she was very nervous about going. We had one tearful phone call but other than that she had a great time and loved helping. When she returned we took a deep breath before July began.

July meant music camp for me at church. Nina helped with that and the week was a great success. At the end of that week, Bruce's brother and his family returned from Japan and came to see the family in Kentucky. The kids all got along well and now we have met all of the immediate extended family! Hopefully this will make family gatherings easier from now on.

In the middle of July, Nina also started working at a local resturant as a cook. She is a great cook already and knows how to work hard. (Can you tell how proud I am of her?) Her bosses love her! She continues to work on Saturdays and will also be helping with the Wednesday night dinners at church. School started last week for her, and she is doing well. She comes home and does her homework without being told. Last year she wanted us to sit down with her and help her do it. This year, she might ask us to check it for her, but that is about all. She has so much more confidence and is really stepping up to the plate.

Gideon has really "settled down" this summer. He is much more in control of himself and his ability to sit and play or color for a longer period of time continues to grow. He continued in the mother's day out program through the summer (When we were here). We are now doing battle with the local school system to get him the help he needs. They refused to evaluate him last spring. They implied that I was too dumb to realize that my son was speaking Russian rather than English and nothing I said could persuade them that HE CANNOT TALK! I think the real reason was that it was too close to the end of school for them to want to do the paperwork. We have been doing speech therapy through a private agency and that has helped. After a summer of work we now have FIVE clear English words! Seems small but when we got him he had a clear vocabulary of about 10 total words. His total vocabulary is up to about 50-60 words and he can put 2 word sentences together. He has now been evaluated by the public schools for speech and we have the meeting Aug 28 at 9:30 EDT to decide what will be done for him. We are also hoping to get them to evaluate him for possible physical and occupational therapy as well as sensory integration disorder. There are no big signs of problems in those areas, but if we can catch some small problems now, that will be a big help later.

In the meantime, we will go back to the Mother's Day Out program while we WAIT on the school system. My work schedule continues to be on hold while we try to sort all this out.

Pray that we will get the school system to give Gideon all of the help he needs without too much hassle.

Pray that Nina will continue to do well at school

Pray for Bruce and I as we continue to make choices about careers. Pray that God will open up the right opportunities for us to increase our income. Pray for my venture into the music publishing business.

Peace of Christ to You all,
Lori

late nights, internet, and snuggles

2007-05-02T10:17:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to be a little better about keeping up with this. I know many of you still check this daily and I am touched and blessed that you care enough about us to continue to do so.

Nina is doing pretty well. She is sad that no one she wrote in Ukraine has written back. She seems to be coming out of the deepest part of the grief cycle, but I think she feels abandoned by the family and friends she left behind. She is gaining more confidence at school and I anticipate her grades beginning to rise. Our biggest concern is that she is spending TONS of time on Russian chat rooms. We have tried to be understanding about this because it gives her a connection to her culture and some badly needed social interaction. The problem she is spending so much time doing it. It is keeping her up way to late, but it is difficult to get any 16 year old to go to bed, much less one that has only been with you 4 months. By the same token Bruce and I have been going to bed way too late as well, so we are walking zombies half the time.

We are struggling with financial and housing decisions right now. We would like to move out to the country but we did not anticipate bringing home a child who would be ready for college in just 3 more years. So we are praying about what to do. I want to be able to shorten Bruce's hour long commute and I would also like a house that would fit our family a little better. But I don't think that can happen at the moment. Soooooo . . .

Gideon is also doing well. We FINALLY are getting some evaluations to get help with his speech delay. He has become a real snuggle bug, especially with Mama, but Papa and Nina get in on the action too. It is amazing to think that in December if my hand touch his bare belly he would descend into a meltdown. Now he pulls up his shirt as we are going to sleep so I can rub his belly and his back. God is good and he is the healer of souls and spirit as well as body.

Please pray that God will draw Gideon and Nina to himself and give them a hunger of Himself and spiritual things. Pray that God will give us wisdom and grace as we seek to parent in a Christlike way.

Peace of Christ my friends,
BLN&G

Sorry for the Long Silence

2007-04-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

I really do apologize! Especially since I left on such a tired and traumatic note last time. I can't believe it has been a month since I grabbed a few minutes to write down what's going on.

Let's start with Gideon. He is doing well. We have started going to a mother's day out program close to my work. That means I get 8 whole hours a week to myself!! Alright so far those hours have all gone to Holy Week and Easter preparations at church, but it is still 8 hours a week where I remember who I am without kids around -- okay that's not really true because even when they aren't with me I am still thinking about them. Hmmm, that sounds very Mom-like.

But I am supposed to be talking about Gideon. He is doing well at MDO. He never wants to go, but when we get there, he leaves me at the door and has a great day. Then he usually sleeps in the car while we go get Nina from school. We did have a BIG BIG melt down the first day he went because I told him he was going to go to school that day. The only school he knew was Nina's so he thought he was going with Nina to school. When he finally understood that he was going to a different school he cried and screamed for 10-15 minutes. Many prayers were said that morning. Other than that, he continues to eat like he is 10 or 12 rather than 4. My parents were here last week and he ate roughly 6 meals a day. We have joked that he eats like a hobbit (See the first Lord of the Rings book or movie to get that reference). But he has grown over an inch and added 6 or so pounds since the medical exam in Kiev.

I should also mention our round with a 24 hour stomach virus. It was 3 Wednesdays ago. He got sick in the car and was burning up with fever when we got home from picking up Nina from school. [Doesn't that complete the official Mom initiation?]. Bruce was working late that night so I had to call into church and get someone else to cover my teaching responsibilities that night. The up side was that for the first time, he sat in the rocking chair and snuggled with me for over an hour. Nina went to church with Bruce's parents that night, which was also a good thing. Gideon spent most of the night either asleep on the couch while I watched a movie or throwing up. Luckily for us he slept through the night and was back to himself the next afternoon. But since then he has been much more open and affectionate with me and everyone else as well. It was like he finally learned that touch was good.

We continue to make progress in behavior as well. He is learning self control although he will still try to bite, scratch, and hit when he is put in time out. But even there he is learning to control himself. He has even learned to use the sign for "Sorry" and will use it appropriately. The other thing we are working on is not throwing when he is angry. We are still trying to get him evaluated for his speech delays and see if there are other therapies he might need. I am having to learn to be a pushy mom to get that done.

As for Nina, she is doing well. We have hit the homesick for Ukraine stage. She didn't want to eat American food, even those foods she previously said she liked. She began lounging in her clothes from Ukraine and complaining that all her friends were in Ukraine and she had no friends here. Sometimes you could remind her that she had friends and sometimes you couldn't. Help came from an unlikely source -- Russian chat rooms. Bruce and I have been a little nervous about this, but she has seemed much happier since she started chatting on-line. It gives her a connection to her old culture and the ability to have casual conversation without the mental effort it takes to have those in English. We have and continue to talk to her about the dangers and not giving out personal information and she understands (as much as a 16 year old can) and talk openly with us about who she is talking to and what they are talking about. It does take some asking to get her to talk, but we don't have the sense that she is hiding anything from us. We also feel blessed that she has made contact with a couple of Ukrainian families here in town, including one that has a 19 year old daughter. The girl is reported to be a strong Christian and is following through on contacting Nina. If this is a good as it seems to be, it is exactly what we have prayed for. The girl is old enough to have more maturity than Nina but young enough that Nina can see being in her shoes. Hopefully God's hand is in this and the young woman will be able to help Nina through the rough spots.

Bruce and I are doing alright, we're just really tired. We are so grateful to my parents who came up last week for spring break. It gave us a lot of help with the kids and the house. My Dad put in some fencing and a gate that finished the encloser of our back yard so Gideon can now be contained in it. At least till he learns to climb the fence. We even got a date night last week! Bruce said a couple of weeks ago that he thinks we are finding our stride as a family, and I think he's right. We are getting in the grove that will carry us through the rest of this school year.

Pray for us as we consider the possibility of moving closer to Bruce's work to shorten his hour long commute

Pray for Nina as she deals with her homesickness for Ukraine

Pray that we will find the help and therapists we need for Gideon

Pray that Bruce and I will have the energy to parent them as they need and the wisdom to know what to do.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Long Night

2007-03-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Well, it looks like we may be in for a long night Gideon has been trying to fall asleep, or maybe that is trying to not fall asleep for the last 2+ hours. I thought I would take a few moments and add to the blog for the junkies out there.

This week has been pretty good overall. Nina seems to be settling in a school a bit. [Thanks to those who responded about an English tutor. We are following through on that] This week has been much better than the previous 2. I am trying to keep in mind that next week may be a down week again. There is no straight forward progress . . . I guess that can be said about all of us.

Gideon seems to be a little harder to handle this week, but I think he is paying us back for the weekend. Some of our friends kept the kids for most of the day on Saturday and then brought them to church on Sunday morning. Nina saw us Saturday night, but Gideon did not see me 'til 10:00 the next day at church and didn't see Bruce until about 2. Soooo, we are dealing with it. [Right now I would be happy if he just went to sleep!]

I will also say that this week seems to be going a little bit faster for me. A good thing in and of itself. Please keep praying for us as we continue to settle in and adjust. Pray for Nina as she continues to work through adapting to the new environement and grieving for the old. Pray we will be able to get Gideon into the therapies he needs. Pray that Bruce and I will have wisdom and patience.

Got to Go, Gideon is screaming for me
Peace, BLN&G

March 1

2007-03-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we have passed the one month mark at home. Gideon is making great progress. He pretty much cries every time I leave him. He also gets upset when we leave Nina at school in the morning. His behavior continues to improve. He often chooses to control himself instead of disobeying and is even doing better on the hitting and biting front. Now if we could just get him to stop scratching and pinching. . . well one step at a time.

Nina has hit the frustration stage. She told me she has no thought of returning to Ukraine but she is very frustrated and angry this week. I think we are going to seek out an English tutor for her. I don't know if a Russian speaking or ESL tutor would be better. Please give us a holler if you have suggestions or experience in this. We are very glad to receive input. Pray for her as she makes this hurdle, we are told it is a common one that older children go through.

I am doing much better this week than last. Bruce is as well. We are just a touch sleep deprived.

As always your prayers are coveted. I have felt a true sense of God presence and purpose in our circumstances. I don't know the purpose at this time, but I know it has all been God's timing.

Sorry so short, but it grows late and I have miles to go . . .

Peace,
BLN&G

Holiday? What Holiday!

2007-02-20T22:49:00.000-05:00

I apologize to the blog junkies for not posting more, but it is difficult to find a few minutes to do it.

Things here are still moving, but honestly I feel like we have taken a step backward this week with Gideon. He has been much more defiant this week and pushing just about every boundary he can think of. It is physically exhausting. Some of it is probably because we had set up a routine last week and this week we demolished it because school was out yesterday and today and Bruce worked late yesterday.

Nina is doing well at school, but it is difficult for her and exhausting. I don't think she realizes how much energy it takes to opperate in a culture where you don't know the language, much less try to go to school. She is a big help around the house and she is usually good with Gideon, but he often gets the brunt of her temper -- pretty typical sibling stuff.

Our cars are now fixed (at least for the moment) I am glad to be back in my own vehicle. (We came home to both our cars being dead.) It took a pretty penny to get everything back in order, but God is faithful in his provision. I am not looking forward to the increase in our gas bill as I am now driving 84 miles a day just taking Nina back and forth to school. Hopefully it will just be for the rest of this year.

I have now resumed all my responsibilites at church. So we will find our weekly rhythm and see what life will be like for the next little bit.

We appreciate your continued prayers. We are taking things a day at a time and truthfully these have been the longest 3+ weeks of my life. (Days are much longer when they start at 6:25 rather than 9.)

Peace,
BLN&G

Good Day

2007-02-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

For those of you wondering how Nina's day at school went, she said she had a good day. Nina was very excited over the weekend and a little nervous this morning. Her eyes got pretty big when I said goodbye and she realized I was really leaving her there. I went to pick her up and she practically skipped out of the building with a big smile and big wave. The head guy walked her to the car and said she had a good day.

She said a boy winked at her, there wasn’t much food at lunch, she had a hard time with her locker combination, there was a girl and several boys who spoke Russian, and most of her class speaks Spanish. We struggled a bit with both of them when we got home. Gideon was so glad to see Nina he was bouncing off the walls. Nina was tired and didn’t want anything to do with him. There were some tense moments but it was a good day all around.

Gideon also had a better than average day. We only had 3 punishable offenses all day. However by the time Bruce got home I was SO ready for him to be here it was not even funny.

The High schools all start at 7:40!!!!!!! That means we have to leave the house at 7:00! You know how much I LOVE getting up early. The day is much longer when it starts at 6 instead of 9. In those brief moments when I can think objectively I am aware that we have had the kids with us just a short time (I think this is the 4th week of having them both.) But in general the last 3 weeks – okay 10 weeks - have been the longest of my life. It seems an eternity separates our DINK life (Double Income No Kids) from life with kids. It feels like they have been ours forever and I mean that in a good way.

As I write this Bruce is having his first experience helping his child do their math homework (Nina obviously). We agreed he has Math and Science and I will cover the other subjects. There are moments when it just seems weird that we are suddenly doing all the parenting things we are doing. But truthfully we wouldn't trade it for anything.

Gideon has had a couple of really good days, hopefully we are turning the corner with him, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. He is always going to be active and strong willed but in the last two days I have gotten a lot more kisses and snuggles than in the weeks before.

If you are reading this and are considering adoption I recommend you read the Stewarts latest blog. It gives an honest look at some of the more unpleasant aspects of adopting as well as the joys. I will just add an amen to what she said.

Peace,
BLN&G

Friday

2007-02-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it's Friday night at 9:45 and the only thing I really want to do is go to bed. If that isn't an indicator of how our lives have changed I don't know what is.

Gideon is doing better but we are still battleing to see who is going to be the top dog in the house. I am grateful to say that so far he has lost. [I will also admit that I bear a few of his teeth marks.] Bruce and I have actually begun to make time outs last until he quits fighting us. It is difficult but it seems to be having a greater effect than just waiting for the timer to go off.

Nina will start school on Monday at the Newcomers Academy. It is designed for students like her who have little to no English. We are very please with the man who runs the program and even though it is housed in one of the schools with the worst reputation in town, I think she will be safe and it will be a good place for her. Pray for her as she now begins to adapt to American life not just life in our house.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Monday, Monday

2007-02-05T14:46:00.000-05:00

Well here we are at the start of our second week home. Nina had a great time at church with the youth last night. When we got back in the car she told me it was a "good day."

Gideon is still his charming stinker-pot self. Bruce has dubbed him "Little Man" I think I prefer "scally-wag" even though I'm not sure how to spell it. We have had some battles today, but I seem to be growing more immune to them. I mean I am getting less angry with him when his belligerent stubbornness comes out. He is getting better and will now occasionally choose to not disobey us when we tell him something. On the other hand, he is also beginning to look right at us and do the thing he knows he is not supposed to do.

All in all, I think I am starting to find my feet with this new life God has given us. Now I just have to figure out when I am going to work in the time I need to get stuff ready for my responsibilities at church during Lent.

Nina and I will go to the ESL office tomorrow to start the process of getting her in school. Pray that we will have the wisdom to pick the right school and that the people are willing to work with us. Much thanks to those who have checked into this for us, your input has been invaluable.

Pray for Bruce as he is still finding his stride balancing his work and our family. I know he would much rather stay home with us than go to work and the 1 hour commute one way doesn't help. Pray that God will lead us in the right direction as to what we should do about that as well.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Yes, we are all home

2007-02-02T22:18:00.000-05:00

Howdy friends and neighbors,
I apologize for the cliff-hanger blog. We have been so busy since we got back that I haven't had a chance to look at email or blog. I also didn't realize that so many people were still checking up on us daily.

We received a call last Friday, ( Jan 26) that Nina's visa was ready. There was much rejoicing and praising of God. We looked into switching our tickets to leave Friday, but it wasn't going to be worth it. (It meant about 17 hours in the airport in Amsterdam) So, we stayed in Kiev and had a great time with Galya, one of our facilitators. We even went to the Circus ( think Cirque de Sole meets Ringling Brothers) Friday night. We had a great time! We also had some really great talks about everything under the sun. It is my prayer that some seeds were planted in fertile soil.

Bruce arrived home safely on Friday the 26th. He and Gideon were both none the worse for wear. He was so tired and glad to be home, he cried when he saw all the people at the airport. Bruce, Gideon, and many of our family and friends met Nina and I at the airport on Sunday the 28th. We also had a fairly uneventful trip, except that unlike Bruce and Gideon we did not get a hotel room and we took so long in immigration we were afraid that we would miss our plane. Thankful all our connections were made and we arrived home to a warm welcome and cold weather.

The bad news is that we came home to 2 dead cars. One is now in the shop and Bruce's dad is trying to fix the other. Top that off with the furnace going out on Monday night and we were beginning to think the sky was falling. Thankfully the furnace is now fixed.

The kids are doing well. Nina is a little bored. We have an appointment at the ESL office on Tuesday. I hope to get her started in school as soon as possible. She seems to be in good spirits and adjusting well, better than I had hoped to be honest. We have her room almost finished and she seems very happy with it. We got her a soccer ball 2 days ago and she spends a lot of time outside in the cold kicking it around. If anyone in our area knows of any leagues for girls around 16 we would love to know about them.

Gideon is surviving. (translation -- we haven't killed him yet) As those of you who have done this know it is a difficult transition for him. Nina and I both bear the marks of his angst (me, scratches and bruises, He actually bit Nina and broke the skin today) I think we are making progress though. Today was better than yesterday, yesterday was better than the day before. I hold no fantasies that we are out of the woods. He was used to being able to get whatever he wanted and it is difficult for him to take "no" for an answer. First he tries cute and if that doesn't work he get angry. And then he switched back. It would be funny if I wasn't living with it. Still, God is faithful even when I am not.

I have heard Gideon begin to make some new sounds verbally but he is not consistently repeating them. We will wait to seek speech therapy for him until we get Nina in school.

My Dad was here with us this week which was an invaluable help. He helped get some projects done to set up Nina's room and move my office downstairs. He also was a calming presence for everyone. Both kids are going to miss him now that he is gone. (he left this morning).

Well that is all the news for now. We continue to desperately need your prayers. As with all parents, we do not possess the wisdom and patience for the task ahead of us. I am beginning everyday with a desperate plea for God's help. I will try to keep updating every couple of days at least until we get into the full swing of life.

I cannot express how good it is to be home, and how strange it feels.

Peace,
BLN&G

On the way home, kinda

2007-01-25T16:13:00.000-05:00

Here is the latest update for the Elbert adoption journey. Bruce and Gideon are on their way back home and should be in Louisville Friday at 2:15pm if all the conections are made. Bruce was a little anxious about traveling with Gideon all by himself as Lori stated that he had to be watched all the time. He just could not be left alone. Bruce feels that Gideon is his dad's pay back child. Lori and Nina had to remain in Keiv as Nina had not received her visa. Lori stated the an official at the embassy in Keiv told her that due to Nina's age the request for a visa was automatically kicked to the FBI for a background check. Lori was told that 95% of the time the clearance is given in about 48 hours. If this is true then she and Nina should be in Louisville Sunday at 2:15 pm. There could be a delay of as much as 3 to 4 days. Pray that things move quickly and they have the visa in their hands tomorrow.

Tues Jan 23

2007-01-23T05:37:00.000-05:00

Hey guys,

Bruce here. I am currently in Berdichiv with Nina, Sveta, and Viktor trying to finish up Nina and Gideon's passport issues. Thus far things have gone smoothly but we have only done the easiest part. Already, we have been to Zhytomer and picked up papers. Then we went to Novagrad Volensky to have Gideon's orphanage stamp his paper and now we are in Berdichev to have Nina's boarding school stamp her paper and to get her second of three passports. We will probably be in Berdichiv for several more hours to have that done. Then we will go back to Zhytomer to show them the stamped papers and get their paperwork that we need for the U.S. embassy. Hopefully things continue to go well.

We currently still have the reservations for our flight but have not comfirmed it yet and cannot until we have all of the paperwork from today. We will have to repeat the reservation by phone today and confirm tomorrow. So we will let everyone know as quickly as possible.

Currently, Lori is back at the apartment in Kyev with Gideon all day. I hope they are surviving one another. I'm sure they are, but I have a feeling that I will have to take Gideon on a long walk when we get back to Kyev.

Well, I have to run. Hopefully, we will be able to get to the internet tomorrow.

Peace,
BLN&G

Coming Home

2007-01-22T10:08:00.000-05:00

We are now in Kiev and only passports stand between us and coming home so I now will post that N's name is Nina (NEE-na). Gideon loves being with and pestering his big sister.

Here is the news:
We now have a tentative flight home. We do not yet have all the passports finished but we are hopeful that it will happen tomorrow (tues.). Bruce and Nina will go with Sveta and Victor to Zhytomer, then Berdichiv, then Zhytomer and then back to Kiev. IF we get all the passports we have an appointment at the embassy at 11:30 am on Wednesdays. Both kids will have to have their medicals early that morning. Nina's will probably be more extensive because of her age. If all goes well tomorrow we will confirm the flights we reserved this morning. That Means . . . we will arrive at the airport on Friday -- check with family or the church for the time.

Obviously we were not able to complete all the passport things on Saturday but they should be done tomorrow. We checked out of the hotel around 11:45 on Saturday. Nina was ready to go at 10 am. She was very anxious/excited about leaving. We then went to the orphanage to get Gideon. They did not tell him he was leaving forever in hopes that he would not be freaked out by the car ride. All of his care givers lined up see him off. You could tell they were happy for him but were sad to see him go. We dressed him in his new clothes and then he ran into the bathroom to show his friends and kiss them all. We then headed out to Victor's van. The minute he was sure we were getting in, he began to cry and it took him an 1:10 to stop. He then just laid in my arms sort of listless until we got to Kiev, at which time he began to cry again. The Boy does not like being in the car, luckily it doesn't make him sick.

We went to church yesterday. Nina and Galla to a Ukrainian service and Papa, Mama and Gideon to an English one. I cannot tell you how good it was to be able to worship with understanding again. The service was very similar to the 9:00 at St Paul, but more extended. it was scheduled to be 2 hours but was only 1:30. Gideon was great through the singing and listened very intently. By the time for the preaching he had to go to the bathroom, so he and mama slipped out and let Papa listen to the sermon undisturbed. I (Lori) cried through a lot of the music. It was as if God reached down and said, I will carry you through all that is ahead. I am faithful. I could cry now remembering.

Today we have been out running around. It has been a good day. Nina seems to be warming back up to us and to Bruce. She does not like to be alone with him, but we are taking baby steps. Hopefully tomorrow will help. Gideon is doing better with the car rides, but it is still hard on him and anyone riding with him.
I'm not sure if we will get back to the internet before we leave. If you don't here from us, assume that plans won't change. If they do we will let you know. We love you all.
It seemed unreal when we finally got to come and now it seems unreal that we are finally coming home. Praise God we are finally coming home.

Pray for Bruce, he may have the roughest transistion because he has to be back at work on Monday. Pray for all of us for patience, love and understanding. our prayer has been that God will bind us together.

Please let Mandy E know we are praying for her daily. When she is up to it, I will bring the kids by.

Peace of Christ,BLN&G

Last Day in Amongst the Farms and Horsecarts

2007-01-19T06:35:00.000-05:00

At least we hope it is the last day. We had the little party with Gideon's group last night and it was a big hit. You have never seen so much food disappear so quickly.

This morning we got up a little early to hit all the important offices when they opened. First the notary to sign our names again and pick up papers. Then the Civil Registration office to pick up the new birth certificates and adoption certificates. IT IS FINAL THEY ARE OURS! Now we just have to be able to get them out of this country and back into ours. When we finished that, Sveta, Viktor, and N headed off to Berdichiv to get N's second passport. Our prayer is that they will again be able to get it in one day (today) if not it will further delay our coming home.

Tomorrow we will pick up Gideon, put him in his new clothes, since he will take ABSOLUTELY nothing with him from the orphanage, I mean nothing. (I think there is a sermon in there somewhere, I'll have to think on it then pass it along to one of you preacher types.) We will put him in the van (which hopefully will go better than last time) and all of us will head out. First stop will be Zhytomer to take care of more passport issues for the 2 kids then on to Kiev. Getting to the internet maybe iffy over the next few days, but I promise we will get our flight info out.

Best case scenario we will leave here on Tuesday. Worst case scenario (I am willing to think about) we will leave on Thursday. Leaving on Wednesday is the most likely (At least we hope so.)

Pray for N, she seems very overwhelmed with everything. She has pulled back from us a little. I think she is afraid that it will all fall through and we will leave her behind. I can't imagine what she must be feeling.

N, got pretty upset with Sveta this morning because N's aunt had told her she was regestered in Novagrad-Volensky. N wanted Sveta to take the court judgement to someplace here to make sure that they released her from here. Sveta told her that she was not registered here, she was regestered in Berdichev, you could tell by the passport we had already received. N loudly told Sveta she was not right, her aunt had said she was registered here. N, almost crying in frustration, said if they didn't release her from here, they would not let her go to America. It made us feel better that even though she is pulling away from us a little she still desperately wants to come with us. (It was a very teenage moment :-)

Pray for Gideon. He seems very scared of completely new things (like the car ride) and he is in for nothing but new things. Pray that he will be able to receive comfort from us and embrace his new adventure.

Pray for us, that we will have patience, wisdom, love, ans strength to do the right things and say the right words. I have asked God a few times if he is sure he picked the right people for this job :-) As God has said he is sure we are trusting him for the strenght and grace to do the tasks before us.

Maj. Tommy, do you remember when we were in Japan and you said that people who think with the metric system judge things much differently, that instead of feet they thing centimeters? Well having ridden around in another metric country for 7 weeks, we would like to confirm you hypothesis. Centimeters, definately centimeters. [For the rest of you, that means that if they have 3 centimeters between them and the car next to them that is plenty of room, where as we English measurement people want 3 feet]

I guess we will close for now. We miss you all and are counting the days until we will FINALLY be home. Wow, is life going to be different.

Peace,
BLN&G

Jan 18 one day to go

2007-01-18T06:32:00.000-05:00

Howdy Partners!

Well we have one day to go until everything is final. Gideon is doing well. We are going to have a small party for he and his friends this afternoon for his going away. N is also fine but in full blown teenage angst, unfortunately it is all directed at Papa. It is tough to take. She is basically giving him the cold shoulder. I keep checking to see if he has frost bite. We could use some prayers on that front for sure. Sveta is going to talk to her this afternoon. We hope it helps.

I (Lori) am up and moving again. Still not great in the appetite department, but I feel much better.

Tomorrow will be very busy. We already have copies of the court judgement (PTL) and we will set off at 8 in the morning to sign paperwork for birth certificates. Then we will pick up the birth certificates and N, Sveta, and Victor will head off to Berdichiv. We are praying for another passport miracle that they will be able to get N's second passport in one day as well. It is our hope that we will be able to head to Kiev on Saturday.

We have yet to tell you about our favorite Ukrainian TV commercial. First you see this guy wakeboarding. Then they show a girl on a paddle boat (you know the kind where you have pedals that turn the paddles) then they pan out to show that the girl in the paddle boat is actually pulling the guy on the wake board. It is very funny and makesBruce long to go to the lake :-) It is for this cookie called "Super-Kontact"

I guess that about covers it for now. Keep up those prayers. We feel them and know they are carrying us. We love you and miss you all. We are entering the home stretch!

Peace,
BLN&G

Jan. 17

2007-01-17T05:03:00.000-05:00

Howdy friends and neighbors. The elbert family here (in my best Al Pernell voice). (Actually, it is only Bruce) Unfortunately, Lori woke up sick today. She was vomiting and having diarrhea. Luckily, it did not seem too severe and looks like she merely has a stomach virus. However, because of this she was not able to go to our morning session with Gideon. Gideon did well. We walked around and explored and interacted with his friend's who were also walking. Then we played on the porch, while N read one of her new books. He did come to me a couple of times and ask, "Mama?", like where is Mama? I told him, "Mama's sick," and he would say, "Oh," in a very sad voice. I'm sure she will be happy to hear that. Hopefully, by resting, Lori will feel better this afternoon and be able to go with us.

N is doing well. Sveta says that she is doing well with her English lessons, but that she will check with Sveta about her answer before she will write it down. It seems she is afraid to make a mistake, and we have noticed this in other aspects too. Lori and I feel that she may have the idea that how others view her, especially us and Sveta and Viktor, is based upon her performance. Hopefully, through experience and talks we will be able to her that we want her to do her best but that our love is unconditional. She is a very good girl, but unfortunately she still has many life lessons to learn (as do we all).

It is fun observing both N and Gideon and seeing how they are similar. They are both social butterflies and like to talk to everyone. Gideon loves to go outside and talk to everyone at the orphanage. He is such a charmer when he wants to be (which is most of the time). We just need to teach him to use his powers for good. N also loves to talk. She will talk Sveta and Viktors ear off when she is with them, and during our visits with Gideon, she will often talk with several of the caregivers. She does not talk with us as much because of the language barrier, but she has tried to say more things to us in English recently. Unfortunately, she also does not like to make mistakes and this hinders her from trying to say things in English.

Wow! The train wreck in Kentucky must have been really bad. They even picked the story up here on the Ukrainian News last night on TV. They also had a story about the ice storm in Florida.

Could everyone please pray for our friend, Mandy? She was in a car wreck a couple of days ago and broke her hip and pelvis. They are performing surgery today to fix it. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

Well, only 2 days left until the court decision is final and we can start the last bit of paperwork to come home. We can't wait to see everyone.

Oh, and one final thing. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STUART. We love you and miss you. We wish we could be with you to celebrate. We hope you have a great day.

Well, got to go. We love you all.

Peace,

BLN&G

Jan. 16

2007-01-16T06:50:00.000-05:00

Howdy folks from the other side of the world (unlessyou live in Europe). Things are going pretty steady here. Lori was not feeling too well last night, so she didn't go to our afternoon visit with Gideon. He did call for his Mama a few times during the visit but did fairly well. Papa and Nina played with him and chased him and walked with him. He wanted to go outside frequently last night, mainly because he is a pirate and wanted to commandeer some "booty" from unsuspecting merchants (that is he wanted to con candy out of as many people as possible). He got quite a haul. He did share some of his ill-gotten gains with his sister and one of his friends but still had 7 pieces for his own person. When Sveta showed up to check on us, N informed her that Papa spoils Gideon because he lets Gideon go wherever Gideon wants and if she was in charge it would be different. She is so 16.

Mama was feeling better this morning, so the whole family was back together again for the morning visit with Gideon. Several of his friends were out walking with the Caregivers, so we joined them. Mama and Papa were having fun playing with a couple of Gideon's friends, but the men changing out the windows on the house next door were more interesting to Gideon. (And why anyone would change windows out in January, we don't know, but they were.) When Gideon's friends went back inside, we went back to the porch to play. Mama put on the hip carrier that we brought to carry Gideon, but he was having none of that. He indicated that he was scared of it and wouldn't get close to Mama while she had it on. He was even tempted to almost kiss Papa with his beard while Mama was wearing it. However, when she took it off, she was able to get several kisses from her sunshine boy. We guess it will take more time for him to get used to it.

Well, that's all for today. We love and miss you all and can't wait to get home.

Peace,
BLN&G

Jan 15, 2007

2007-01-15T06:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the windy city! Okay maybe not THE windy city but it is so windy over here this morning we thought about tying a string to Gideon and using him for a kite! (Just kidding)

We are now in our last week in Novagrad-Volinsky! Hallelujah! We are so ready to come home. Cathy M sent us pictures from the party at church. We are so blessed with such wonderful friends and family! We were overwhelmed! We long to be back home with all of you.

Things continue on well with the kids. N is spending lots of time with "Aunt" Sveta and "Uncle" Victor. They are helping her English and helping her understand what it means to be in a family. They are saying a lot of the things we would say if we could, but she may hear them better from them than from us. We are very appreciative of the ground work they are helping us lay. She asked lots of questions today about what life would be like at home. She has already figured out the way to her Papa's heart. We couldn't get to the internet yesterday because every computer was full of teenage boys playing games. So we decided to let N have the camera and lead us around town. She led us down to the river so Papa could put his hands in it. She is going to fit right in!

Gideon is a stinker-pot and the cutest little guy ever! We have some work to do on the "We don't hit" side of things. I can't wait till he is all ours and we don't have to give him back after a couple of hours (Talk to me in 3 weeks and I may be ready to hand him off for a couple of hours though!) We played with he and about 5 of his classmates on the porch today (Like I said it was too windy to take them out. I really am not sure some of the smaller ones wouldn't have been blown away by the wind.) It was fun. Bruce gave each of the kids turns being picked up and I was handing out cereal to everyone. Gideon was not real sure he wanted everyone to have his cereal, but he didn't have a say.

We finaly found someone in town that sells books. We bought N all of the Harry Potters and The Chronicles of Narnia in Russian. (well we do have to go back on Friday and pick up Harry Potter 3). She was very excited. I think she is still amazed that we are buying her stuff! When I handed her the books (all hard back) she was surprised at the weight and told Sveta she could kill someone with the weight of the books!

Todays funnies:

They really like concert type shows on TV. N was flipping through last night and stopped on just such a show. At first we thought it was a boyband. But no! It was an Accordian Playing pop star! NO LIE -- ACCORDIAN. Complete with boy band dancers around him. He even had a few dance moves himself with the Accordian strapped on. He was all in white and his accordian was white. Kind of reminded me of Liberache (except this guy was cute and younger). Actually he seemed to be quite a good player -but accordian pop music? Who knew?
Another steller piece of Ukrainian TV: The movie was call "Shaolin Soccer." It was a Chinese film that had been dubbed into English and then over dubbed in Ukrainian. It was Histarical. If you can get your hands on a copy it would be worth a laugh.

Just a brief word of thanks to our wonderful friends at St Paul. You are the best! We are so grateful for all you have done for us. We miss you terribly! We love you dearly!

Well I guess that's all for this installment of Life in Novagrad-Volensky. Tune in tomorrow when mama will say, "No Gideon, We don't hit."

Peace,
BLN&G

2007-01-13T09:28:00.001-05:00

January 13, 2007
Let me answer the question most of you seem to be asking. We still don't know exactly when we will get to come home. On Friday, Jan 19th the adoptions will be final (That will be our "Gotcha Day" ie the day we will celebrate the day we Got them). We will receive all the paperwork from the court hopefully bright and early that morning (they open at 8 am). We will then go to the office that will issue their new birth certificates. That office has promised to turn our the new birth certificates in 2-3 hours (that is incredibly fast for here.)
Now is when the process gets sticky. Gideon will then be ready to head to Kiev for medicals and embassy appointments. N on the other hand, will need to get her second passport (Ukrainian with her new name) before she is ready to head to Kiev. This will require another trip to Birdichiv and a trip to Zhytomer (None of these name spelling are correct so they may not help you find them on the map) We know the passport office in Berdichiv is only open on Tues., Thurs., & Sat. We are not sure if we will be able to submit the passport stuff on Sat or if we will have to wait till the next Tues. N cannot go to the American embassy in Kiev to get her american passport until she has received her Ukrainian passport in her new name. Thankfully N has already done all her medicals so that is out of the way. We will not know when we can schedule our flight until we know what will happen with N's passport
In case you are wondering, Lori has decided that childbirth would be easier (although she has never been through it. It would certainly be faster!). But we wouldn't trade our kids for anything in the world.
We are all beginning to get restless. We are ready to move on and get out of here. N especially seems to be growing a little bored. But she is 16, boredom is what they do best, Right? Gideon was better today and didn't seem to hold the car ride against us. Mama got lots of kisses today (she was trading cereal for kisses if the truth were known) Papa didn't. Gideon just won't kiss the beard.
Funny for Ukraine: If you think soap operas are bad, try watching them in a language you don't understand. It makes you want to bash your head against a wall! (N is a bit of a TV junkie)
We will sign off for today. We are holding each of you in our hearts and yearn to hear the wheels of the plane touch down at home.
PeaceBLN&G

2007-01-12T08:18:00.001-05:00

Jan. 12, 2007
Not a whole lot to tell today. We received the box from our friends at home with clothes and gifts for the kids. Thank you so much for all your generosity and thanks to the Chancel Choir for footing the bill to send the box. You saved us loads of time and money because now we only have few things to buy for the kids to get them home :-)
Gideon went for his first car ride today. He did not enjoy it. It was either his first time in a van or the only time he has riden in a van was to the hospital or some such traumatic place. He screamed and cried the whole time he was in the van. Poor little guy, he was so scared. We went to get his picture taken for his passport. He was cute but very serious in his picture. The ride back to the orphanage was not quite so traumatic but he still cried the whole way.
When we got back his buddies were outside for a walk (it is a beautiful, relatively warm day) When he saw them, he ramped his crying back up as he walked over to them. All his little friends gathered around and started patting his head to comfort him. It was so precious! He is really going to miss all his friends and the caregivers who have taken such good care of him.
N reallt enjoys her video games. She came with us to the internet today and is playing games next to me. She likes the games but she doesn't have the patience to wait through a long story line intro. She is quite a hoot. She has begun to feel a little more comfortable trying out some of her English. She is saying "I like" or "I don't like" It is very helpful. It is also fun to see her excitement over our upcoming trip and the goodies that were for her in the box. She loved opening the wrapped gifts that were in the box so much she even wanted to open Gideon's. Knowing what will be waiting for her when we get home, I can't wait to see how she will react!
I guess that is about all for today. We love and miss everyone. We can't wait for our time here to be at an end even though it will mean some difficult times adjusting for all of us.
Peace,BLN&G
PS. Please say an extra prayer for Lori. She has been struggling with migraines over the last two weeks. They are not severe, but they are annoying and sap her energy. Thanks.

Jan 11, 2007

2007-01-11T06:17:00.000-05:00

Greetings friends.
Thank you so much for your kind notes of celebration and encouragement on yesterday's post. I have had a few moments in the last several days where I have thought, "Well, God, I never saw this coming!" It is always an adventure when you let God set the course. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Some of you have asked when the kids will be with us. N is already staying with us because of her age and unique circumstances. It is fun. She loves to play cards and is very competative. [Yes, Oma, dominoes would be a good thing too. And wait till you get her at the hand and foot table!] Her English is improving daily. This morning she read one of Gideon's books with Papa. I don't think she actually comprehended a whole lot but she is doing a good job of sounding out the words! Have I mentioned that she's very smart! Papa and N were playing ball with a stuffed animal last night (Gideon was cranky and Mama was dealing with him) She has a lot of natural athleticism. Papa is already envisioning going to her volleyball and soccer games. Nina has also begun to ask more questions about what life will be life in America.

Gideon will remain at the orphanage until Jan 19th. At that point we can take him whenever it is most convenient for us. {I'm not sure how we would do with all 4 of us in our little hotel room}

Gideon was being a bit of a stinker yesterday, but was much better today. We have been kicked out of our latest play room so we are back to the porch of his room. This is fine except that they are hyper-worried about the kids getting cold. So Gideon has to leave on all of his cold weather gear. He gets so hot! He has usually sweat through the sweatshirt he is wearing by the time we go back inside. I have the feeling that the workers may think we are unfit to be parents since we don't keep him bundled up like a michelin man every second he is not with them. It is frustrating. It is hard to continue to grow the relationship when we are constantly changing the routine and having care givers walk in and out. But the end is in sight!

Okay, some more funny things. There is a TV program over here that is an EXACT copy of 3's Company. We even think they copied some of the scripts. We saw 2 grandpa's riding together on a Vespa (motorscooter). Imagine this for a date. The guy is wearing a suit pedaling a bike. His girl is sitting in front of him riding the bike side sadle in her nice long coat and 4 inch stileto heals. THe guy has 2 fresh fish (like they were breathing in the tank 5 minutes ago) in a plastic bag in his right hand as he steers. (Can you picture it?) To top it all off it was Christmas Eve!

I guess that about covers today's adventures. Hopefully we will have more fun and adventures to post tomorrow.

Peace,
BLN&G

WE ARE SO SORRY

2007-01-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

Title: We are so sorry!

We are so sorry that we didn't make it to the internet yesterday. We know you were all on pins and needles waiting to hear but we were in court for A LONG TIME! It started at 11 and we weren't finished until around 2:30! By the time we finished lunch it was too late to come back into town and get online.

The judge was very thorough. For a little while we were afraid she was going to read every document in our Dossier. Thankfully she didn't. She did ask everyone in the court their opinion about the adoption. Then they took an hour long recess that turned into an hour and a half at least. Finally she came back and read the decision. The court approved our request!! It will not be final until after the 10 day waiting period (Jan 19) But the decision is made. Now all we have to do is wait and get their passports! Easy with Gideon; Difficult with N because she is 16.

N had to stand before the judge and say that she wanted to be adopted by us and the judge asked her several questions. She was very brave and answered well. We had given her a small Teddy Bear we brought from home on Sunday. She brought the bear with her to court and fiddled with it the whole time she was talking to the judge. Such a brave girl!

We thought we would be able to get the heck out of Dodge, I mean Novagrad-Volensky on that Friday. The Passport issue complicates that. We are not sure at this point what our itenerary will be. I would like to get back to Kiev as soon as we can, but we may end up being here through that weekend. Who knows? Not us at this point.

I still think we are looking at a return date between Jan 24 and 26. The sooner the better in my book.

We took N shopping this morning for a few items. I think she was a little overwhelmed by the freedom of choice she had, and the fact that we were there soley to buy her stuff. Wait till she hits the malls at home! Talk about overwhelmed.

Gideon is still doing well. We played outside today which was good but it is very distracting for him. He must talk to everyone that comes by: tell them that the manhole cover is off so there is a big hole in the ground and ask for candy. He didn't seem too upset with us that we missed seeing him yesterday.

Well, that is all for now. We miss you all terribly. I want the days to fly by, but I am afraid they will crawl. Two weeks left and counting.

Peace
BLN&G

1 Day to Go

2007-01-08T07:07:00.000-05:00

That's right by this time tomorrow we will be posting up the results of the court appearance! I can't believe we have finally gotten to this point. The Stewarts went home last Thursday; the Deihls went home Sunday night and we FINALLY have our court date tomorrow. When we were leaving for Ukraine we were the last ones to the airport. Lori said to Kathy, "Well we live the closest to the airport and we are the last ones here." Kathy replied saying she hoped it wasn't a sign. Apparently it was.

N is back from Russia. She said the trip was fine, but I'm not convinced it was. It is good to have her back and she seems glad to be with us as well. We gave her the teddy bear we brought with us last night as a Christmas gift and she was extremely pleased with it. (Every girl needs a teddy bear, I don't care how old you are!) N continues to work on her English and Sveta seems please with her progress. She is quite different from Gideon. Where Gideon wants to be the center of attention, N is rather shy and doesn't seem to want the spotlight at all. We will have to be careful introducing her into the youth group so she is not overwhelmed by all the attention.

Gideon continues to be the life of the party. He likes to be picked up now especially if there are some acrobatics involves (airplane rides, flying, etc.) He is quite comfortable crawling on us now and recognized N immediately. He even came up with a close proximity to her name. Quite impressive since all other young women are "ana"

Yesterday we visited a Russian Orthodox Abbey that is about 30 minutes from here. It was quite beautiful and there was definately the sense of the "Holy" that hung about the place. The abbey itself was built in 1500. It makes you realize how young our country is. The door into the church (and the grounds themselves) were very short. Sveta says this is so you have to bow and humble yourself to enter. The people were definately humble and reverant as they worshiped, but it did make me sad that they basically just watched -- no listened as the priest and liturgist performed the rituals. I say listened because most of the actual actions of worship occur behind the large screen (anastasis) that seperates the main room from the holy place. There is much to be admired about orthodox worship but I just can't help feeling that they left the people behind. (unfortunatly we couldn't take any pictures)

Well, I guess that will do it for now. We miss everyone so much! We look forward to the day when we will be home again! We look forward to being able to post good news about our court date tomorrow. Please continue to pray for us, that the judge will move things along swiftly (remember they have never done an international adoption in this region). Thanks you so much for your love and support, they mean the world to us!

Peace of Christ
BLN&G

Happy Epiphany!

2007-01-06T05:56:00.000-05:00

Well children here are gearing up for the appearance of Santa Claus tonight. We continue in our same routine. We are anxiously awaiting the return of N hopefully tonight and we will hopefully see her tomorrow -- but we the holidays we may not see her then either.

Gideon has not been feeling great the last couple of visits. He has been a little droopy but still very cute. It has allowed for a little more cuddling. He also wasn't ready for us to leave this morning. I ended up carrying him back into his room and then he was fine -- very cute as he kissed us both goodbye and then blew us kisses.

We took him out for a walk and he was trying all his tricks to get anyone he could to give him candy. I think the boy could be sick to his stomach and still eat candy by the handfuls.

We are still trying to decide what would be the best thing for N as far as schools go. We have looked into the ESL programs in the local public schools and they seem good, but we worry about dumping her in more than half way through the school year. We were wondering what some other people have done who adopted older children. We were thinking about maybe getting a tutor and homeschooling her for the rest of this year, focusing on English of course. [Sveta thinks this is the way to go.] Our hope would be that her English would be good enough by next fall that she could be pretty much mainstreamed into regular classes. We would love the opinions of those who have walked this road before us.

Can someone let me know when Ash Wednesday is?

I'm not sure if we will be able to get to the internet on the 7th and 8th, it is their Christmas holiday. If you don't see anything new up that will be why. I hate the thought of the interuption in communication, we miss being able to read your notes and know what is going on at home. We were glad to hear that Boar's Head went well. We knew it would. Now y'all take it easy on Will and Erin for a few weeks!

Our court date fast approaches. We are anxious to get on the other side of it so we can start the real count down to going home. Pray that the court hearing goes smoothly (I think the director of N's school will make trouble if she can.) Pray that N will grasp Englsih quickly -- the sooner she can communicate the sooner she will feel comfortable in her new home. Pray that we will all stay healthy.

Well, I guess that is all for now. We love and miss you all. Hug each other for us.

Peace
BLN&G

2007-01-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

Title: Thunder over Novagrad-Volensky
We were treated to another fireworks display last night. There were a couple of young men who had set up in front of the hotel apparently as part of a party that was going on in the resturant. They put on a pretty good show complete with music and coordinated firings. It was fun to watch and we had a great view from our window. Of course it was just us and 30 of our friends as opposed to us and half a million of our friends. And you would never go to thunder of Louisville in your PJ's. Okay some of you might, but we wouldn't.
Gideon is great! He has determined that my (Lori's) lap is his territory and now spends a good portion of our visits sitting there. He is also jealous when Papa picks up one of the other kids from his group. He was given an apple this morning and ate the whole thing -- I mean all of it. I felt lucky that I managed to get the stem away from him before he ate that too! Poor little guy was having some gas pains this morning :-( We now know that he can be quite pitiful when he feels bad. He did let me carry him back his room from our play room. He only wanted down when we got to the door of his room. It made Mama happy! He is such a cutey! [Have I mentioned that there are some real cuties in his group too? Little boys with eyes that sparkle and grins that would steal your heart!]
We expect Nina back tomorrow. We are looking forward to seeing her. We have missed her very much!
We did have a difference of opinion with some of the caregivers/workers at the orphanage last night. Gideon was in trouble because he had drawn on the desk and then hit me (hit at me might be more accurate), so he was in time out in my lap. He was beginning to wind down and it would have been over in another minute or two but one of his buddies, Dada (Ukrainian for Uncle -- all men are Dada) came in, apparently told Gideon he needed to shape up and then gave him 5 yes FIVE pieces of candy! On his heels was the Babboshka who also gave him a stern talking to and then proceeded to put his coat on him and take him back to his room so that he could go to the bathroom! We didn't know if she would bring him back or not, but just as I was about to go look for them, they came around the corner. We were so frustrated! Who gives a 3 year old 5 pieces of candy at once?! I mean a large piece of chocolate and 4 hard candies! He had already bamboozaled the secretaries out of 3 large chocolates that morning! ARGH! And of course he wanted all the candy RIGHT NOW! We had another tussled over my not handing them all over when he got back from the bathroom. I've never seen anyone eat hard candy so fast. Man do we have some battles ahead ;-) So for at least the next 6 months there will be no candy in our house. It will take us a while to break him of the habit. Thankfully he eats all food with just as must gusto as he does candy -- he just prefers the candy.
Well that's all for now from the exciting Elbert adventures!
We love and miss each one of you.
Lantz, I am so proud of you! Will you be able to fix my speeding tickets now?
PeaceBLN&G

January 4

2007-01-04T15:29:00.000-05:00

Jan 4
I think I am fresh out of clever ways to start this thing. Oh well. Things continue to go well. Just 5 more days 'till our court date. I am hopeful that the days will begin spinning fast now.
Gideon continues to do well. He allows Bruce to carry him for longer periods of time and spend almost the entire session this morning on my lap :-) He seems to be gathering more and more comfort and strength from us and even seemed to be trying to extend out time together this morning. He also ran to us with a big smile! During the afternoon sessions it is quite dark so the noises of people moving around outside our little room can be a little scary, Gideon quickly backs into one of us for comfort when he hears those scary noises.
We now know that N is indeed in Russian with her Aunt. N called the inspector here at home before the new year and told her (the inspector) that she (Nina) was going on the trip. The inspector had left Sveta's number at wrok, which is closed this week, so we did not find out until last night when Sveta called the inspector. It is good to know, but we still are going to have that talk about knowing plans ahead of time :-) [In Nina's defense, she may not have known] We are glad she is taking this trip. This may be the last time she will have with these relatives, at least for a long time.
Thank you so much for the emails and prayers. I wish we had time to send each of you an individual email to say how much we love and miss you. But this will have to suffice.
Here is today's humor from Ukraine: Pickles seem to be a major food item over here. They put them in everything. I have seen pickles on pizza and in soup. There is in fact "Pickle Soup" think about that the next time you are eating pickles on your hamburger.
Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Back in Town

2007-01-03T06:51:00.000-05:00

Howdy Partners,
We are now back in Novagrad-Volensky. We have seen Gideon 2 times since we last posted and he is doing well. He was a little more difficult last night, but I think he was probably acting out a little bit because we had missed 2 visits because of our brief jaunt to Kiev. He is a sunshiney little stinker-pot and he can turn on the charm before you can think. This morning he had a lesson on "When Mama says No, Papa will also say no." He wanted some paints to play with which I said "no" to. He then promplty squirmed out of my arms and called for Papa. Papa picked him up and he started pointing to the paints and saying the word that in Gideon-language means "I want that" Papa also said no and Gideon was not a happy camper BUT he did allow Bruce to carry him for several minutes. This is a first as he doesn't really like to be carried. He aslo spent several minutes sitting in my lap coloring and even indicated that he wanted me to put him on my lap. That is also a first. He even sat in Papa's lap for a few minutes (also a first). I'd say it was a good day.

We haven't seen Nina since she went to get her passport. We are not especially worried about this, we know she is with her aunt and Sveta thinks they might have gone to Russia for the holidays. (Not my idea of a holiday destination, but then again I tend to go to Texas in the summer when it is hottest so who am I to say?) When she gets back, we will have a long talk with Nina about letting us know where she will be and when (I already sound like the parent of a teenager ;-( We do miss her and miss the chances we are having to build relationship with her and help her begin to get some more English under her belt, but we have no misgivings about bringing her home with us.

By the way, some of you have noticed that Nina's hands seemed to be clinched in some of the picture. She severely broke her left arm 3 years ago and it was poorly set. So she has lost a lot of mobility in her left hand, that is why that hand looks clinched. She still used that hand fairly well and it certainly doesn't slow her down much. Luckily she is right handed (Although I have a sneaking suspician that Gideon is left handed -- he draws and throws with his left. he eats with which ever hand has the food in it and can get it to his mouth the quickest :-)

We are settled back into our hotel room for the long haul. We continue to walk the path set for us and we are trusting that when we get all of us back home these weeks will float away like a distant dream.

Lori is missing Mexican food! Bruce is missing basketball season! We miss our family and friends most of all.

Peace,
BLN&G

Welcome to 2007

2007-01-02T12:28:00.000-05:00

Title: Welcome to 2007

Having expereinced this new year for 7 to 8 hours longer than the rest of you, I feel justidied in welcoming you to this year. Truthfully, my mind cannot even wrap itself around how different this year will be than last year. It is truly mind boggling.

We now have all of our paperwork in hand! Now we are just waiting for our court date which is Jan 9th at 11:30. At least as far as paperwork goes, there are no more obsticles in our way. It is a really good feeling. Now we just sit back and wait and enjoy our kids.

We came to Kiev yesterday afternoon to meet the group from home that was coming over to pick up our paperwork. While the practicalities of the paperwork brought us here, we were also very grateful for the chance to see some of our friends from home as well as spend time with the Stewarts and their new son, Kole. It has been a wonderful time of refreshing for us. I cannot express how nice it was to talk to people from home and just to be surrounded by people speaking English. I feel like my brain took a big sigh of relief. We had a great time laughing with the Stewarts and swapping stories about our children. We basically had a sleepover at Gayla's and then played with Kole some more this morning. Did I mention that we also got laundry done? I have never rejoiced over clean laundry so much in my life. It is the simple pleasures of life that bring the most joy, a childs laughter and clean socks!

We will head back to Novagrad-Volensky in just a few minutes so we can see Gideon this afternoon. But I wanted to tell each and every one of you how much you mean to us. I know that we would not have made it this far without the love and support that you have given us. The Stewarts are on their way home on Thursday. The Dheils will leave a few days after that. We anxiously look forward to our trip home but we are hopeful that every day we spend with the kids here will ease the transistion when we get home.

May God bless each of you more abundantly that you can ask or imagine according to his riches which are in Christ Jesus.

Peace of Christ to all,
BLN&G

Hap-py New Year!

2006-12-31T06:37:00.000-05:00

Greetings from the far side of the sea! (Black Sea that is)
It is a cold new year's eve here, but we are warmed by your prayers and love!

We understand that New Year's here is quite the blow out- literally. We have been warned to expect fireworks going off everywhere. We had a small preshow last night in front of out hotel. Some of the local young men set off a few rockets. We had a perfect view from our window. We expect to see even more tonight. (maybe for most of the night)

Kids are doing great although we have lost our regular playroom with Gideon -- it is now the doctor's office. They are letting us play in the old doctors office and we are grateful to have a heated place to be, but it is pretty cramped and there are lots of things we have to keep Gideon out of. I guess it is giving us the chance to set boundaries and enforce them. (we are discovering how exhausting that can be :-)

Here is a brief list of some of the funniest things we have seen here:
Babooshka's (grandmothers that look like they walked out of Fiddler on the Roof) riding bicycles.
Babooshkas riding bicycles in the snow.
Horses pulling carts driving right next to cars on main street downtown
All of the kids are bundled up like the michelin man -- so much so that they can't even bend in the middle.
There are more stray dogs than children in this town -- no kidding! -- and their favorite pass time is to run out in front of Viktor's van (We think Viktor is running a side line business of running down dogs and then selling them to the local resturants for meat. Did we mention that many of the menu items say "Meat with mushrooms" Or "Meat in pasta shells" with no indidcation of what kind of meat it is? Just a joke folks!)
With my hand in the air, this really happened: We saw a smallish dog walking down the street carrying a blue plastic bread tray (like buns are stacked in at the store) in its mouth. If we had had the video camera out we could have made money off the video! He was just trotting down the street with the bread tray that had to be as big as he was out in front of him. (Okay maybe you had to be there but we were all dying laughing. I'm so mad that we didn't get a picture).
Bras stacked on a table for sale in the open market, as in tables set up out on the street. (I could just hear the salesperson, "Would you like to try that on?")
Fish as long as your arm for sale in the open market and they are still alive when you buy them -- talk about fresh!

Well that's about it for now. We are going to Kiev tomorrow to meet Kathy and Nancy's group to get our paperwork so I doubt we will have chance to post anything. The snow has just started up again here so maybe we will have a white New Year.

By the way, I realized today that Santa doesn't actually have to get toys to all the kids in the world in one night. He does Western Europe, Brittain, the Americas and probably some of Asia on Dec 25. Then he gets 2 weeks to regroup and does all of Eastern Europe, Russia and the rest of Asia on Jan 7. And here you thought he was already on vacation! (Hee-Hee)

Peace,
BLN&G

Hallelujah!

2006-12-30T09:43:00.000-05:00

God works miracles in paper!

Not only is our paperwork on its way here from the US, but N got her passport in 1 (ONE) day. That may not sound amazing, but it normally takes 2 MONTHS to get your passport here. God went before Sveta and N and softened the heart of one of the officials who was willing to do everything in one day. IT IS A MIRACLE!

The kids are doing well. Sveta gives high praise for N as she learns English. Gideon is almost too cute to bear. (And he knows it!) I think we are actually adopting Curious George, he gets himself into trouble and then does something good and cute and if your're not careful, you find yourself forgetting about the trouble he was in. (This seems very true for his caregivers.) At lunch, Bruce and I decided that being cute may be the only thing that will keep him alive. God knows what he was doing when he made preschoolers cute. Really he is a good boy who likes to please and likes to help, he's just 3.

Please pray for Sveta she is feeling ill. Seems to be a cold or flu type deal.

Well thats it for today. Coming soon a list of some of the funniest things we've seen over here.

Peace,
BLN&G

Paperwork progress, Dec. 29

2006-12-29T10:27:00.000-05:00

Finally, we have heard good news about the paperwork. It has finally come to Bruce's parents and they are getting all of the appropriate official seals placed on it. We should have it by early next week, well before our court date. God is good and His timing is perfect.

Things have been going well here with the Kids. Gideon is getting more and more comfortable with us and seems to be trusting us more and more. This morning with him we got bumped to a couple of different rooms and several other people kept coming into the rooms, including the Director who is Gideon's buddy. However, it did not seem to bother him too much even when he did not get any candy (the Director's and Gideon's favorite bribe) and did not cry at all but continued to interact with us. We are reassured by this.

Nina went with Svetta and Victor to Berdichiv to get her first of three passports. Apparently, because she is 16, she needs to have a Ukrainian passport in her original Ukrainian name; then a Ukrainian passport with her new american name; and then an American passport with her new american name.
Peace,
BLN&G

More Snow

2006-12-28T06:48:00.000-05:00

Another light dusting of snow last night, but still not enough to entirely cover the grass.

N was back today (PTL). She had gone to a nearby village with the aunt she is staying with to visit another relative. It seems the aunt wants to give N a chance to say good-bye to her family before she goes. I don't know if it is an attempt to change N's mind or just a genuine gesture to help N as she prepares to leave. Either way N is still determined to come with us :-) Sveta took her to have her passport photo made while we are on the internet. Before all is said and done N will have received 3. That's beaurocracy for you.

Gideon's orphanage gave their Christmas show today. There were several local dignitaries there and even some TV coverage. I was struck again at how good the orphanage is. The children do cry when they are unhappy (a good sign) and most of the care givers had at least one child on their lap at all times. While it still has the problems of an orphange, for what it is, it seems pretty good.

Bruce got the whole show on video. The kids were all very cute, but it was also sad, knowing that most of these kids will never have a home. Gideon's orphanage is for those with "severe" health problems. Although many seem just as healthy as Gideon, many others do have obvious problems. There is one little girl with severe fetal alcohol syndrome and 2 brothers that have some sort of genetic skin disorder. It looks like eczema so severe that it bleeds and scabs over. We also saw a couple of kids in the next age group down with Downs Syndrome. It is heart breaking.

Our evening sessions with Gideon continue to improve. He didn't cry at all last night. As strange as it may sound, I am looking forward to the day when he will cry when we leave. That will mark a significant step in the bonding process.

We are hopeful that the US paperwork will be in Bruce's parent hands by the end of this week. Please continue to pray toward that end.

We love each and every one of you!

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Snow Day

2006-12-27T06:47:00.000-05:00

We woke up to a light dusting of snow this morning, less than an inch, but it sure is pretty. Snow just makes the dreary winter world look better :-)

I thought you might like to know what our daily routine is. We get up in the morning and have yogurt or cereal for breakfast around 9. We meet Victor and Sveta and the Wonderful VW bus at 10 to go to the orphanage and see Gideon. N usually meets us there and we stay with Gideon until 11:30 or 12. While we are there, Sveta is usually busy with paperwork and official appointments on our behalf. We have lunch from 12 to 1:30 or so (have I mentioned the food is terrific?) Then we come to the internet place to check emails and post up our news. This is more like an arcade than a cafe. There are always a gaggle of young men here playing video games for 5 grievna (that would be 1 dollar) an hour. When we leave the internet we head back to the hotel where N gets an English lesson while we play cards or read and rest. At 4 we usually drop N off close to her aunts house and then head back to the orphanage to spend another couple of hours with Gideon. These sessions are often the hardest because he tends to be fussy. At 6 we go back to the hotel. We play more games or read and then watch a movie on our computer. We also eat a light supper, like a snack of sausage, bread, cheese, and fruit. We generally head to bed between 11:30 and 12. Then we get up the next day and do it again. We are slightly concerned that the 52 DVDs we brought with us will not be enough to get us through but we will tough it out. ;-)

Things with Gideon are improving. Overall his nightly fits are getting shorter and Bruce was quite pleased with himself when he managed to get his son belly laughing at him. It was a beautiful sound! We also notice that G is much more verbal since we came. He still doesn't have very many words, but he verbalizes a lot more than he used to. He also understands our English pretty well. He understands simple commands and questions. As well as the English names for many of the items we bring with us. (cup,coat,hat, book, blocks, etc.)

We are a little concerned about N. She has not met us at the orphanage for the last 2 days. We're not sure what this means, if it means anything. She may be having second thoughts, she may be sick, she may be tied up doing things for her aunt with whom she is staying. We just don't know and don't really have a way to get in contact with her. We are praying for her safety and health and for God's will to be done.

I guess that is all for now. We will be thinking about the St Paul choir as you rehearse tonight.

Peace of Christ,
BLN&G

Good News

2006-12-26T06:38:00.000-05:00

We finally have a court date! January 9th at 11 a.m. We are very excited that things seem to be moving forward! Continue to pray for the US paperwork. It needs to be in the hands of Bruce's parents by Dec 29th so that all the appropriate seals and certifications can be placed on them so that they can be brought to us by Kathy D and Nancy S when they come on Jan 1.

The not so good news in this is how long we will have to be here. There is a 10 day waiting period during which we must stay in the area. That makes it Jan. 19th. IF we can get the appropriate paperwork that day (which is very doubtful) we can head back to Kiev to be at the US embassy on Monday, Jan 22. More likely we will have to pick up the paperwork here on Monday the 22nd and then head to Kiev. We will have 1 or 2 days of tying up paperwork in Kiev and then will fly home. We will pass along a definate date when we know one, but we will probably arrive back home sometime around the 26th.

The other difficulty is that Bruce is supposed to be back at work on the 22nd. We are exploring options in that area.

We are enjoying our second day in a row of bright cold days. It may not seem like much, but the sun is very comforting! The kids continue to do well. Evenings with Gideon are more difficult, he seems pretty out of sorts and spends a lot of time crying and sitting on Mama's lap being rocked. We're not sure why this is, we are just doing our best to comfort him as he will allow us. We haven't seen N today, we are a little concerned by this, but we are sure there is a good reason. I guess teenagers are just designed to make their parents worry :-)

We have learned that pretty much the whole country shuts down from Jan 1-7. We are going to have to change rooms at the hotel because our whole floor has been rented out by a single party. They have pretty much reserved the hotel and resturant from the 30-2 or so. We will be living in the midst of the party it seems. We are hoping that the shower in our new room will not leak. I miss my nice long showers!!!!

Bruce misses the bed that is long enough for him to actually stretch all the way out. He has learned to cope but it has messed with our sleeping patterns just a bit. We are grateful that our mattress is very thick, at least 4 or 5 inches. That is a true luxury.

Will S, I hope Boar's head is coming along well. I got up today thinking about you and the set building. Man are you in for a ride, but you have great help and it will go well! Did all the dinners sell out?

Some of you have mentioned sending us snail mail. We are trying to find an address you can send to and will post it when we have it. We would love getting mail! But please don't send anything that would be difficult to pack and bring back with us. (Tea cakes would be much appreciated though :-)

Well I guess we will sign off for now. We love you all and miss you. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, even though it is a small light!!!

Diehls and Stewarts, maybe we will meet up again in Kiev as y'all are heading out and we are meeting Kathy D.

Peace,
BLN&G

Christmas Day, 2006

2006-12-25T13:44:00.000-05:00

We woke up to a bright sunny and cold Christmas day here. Of course it is only Christmas for Bruce and I, everyone else will celebrater Jan 7. Today is just another day as far as our schedule.

Through the help of several friends we have collected 3 letters that we hope will impress upon the judge the time crunch we are under. They have never done an international adoption here so Sveta has her work cut out for her. She is trying to catch our judge between sessions to give her these letters and to see if she will set the preliminary date. Apparently, there may be more than 1.

Please continue to pray for the expediting of our US paperwork. It is essential to things going through here. I am not above asking if anyone has any influence at BCIS(US Citizenship and Immigration Services) to use it in our behalf. We are now in the midst of the holiday break both there and here and it is not helpful to us. We are trusting that God will work a miracle and everything will get straightened out.

If you're wondering why we chose the name Gideon let me tell you, because the reasons still apply. Through out this process we thought we had it all together and then the bottom would fall out, only to see God pull it all together again. In Judges, God cuts down the size of Gideon's army so that everyone would know that the Lord won the victory. It is the same with us, when we finally get home with our children, we will know that only God was able to bring us through all of the red tape and emotional mine fields and financial difficulties to bring our family together. Every time we will call Gideon's name it will remind us of all God has done for us.

It is supposed to get REALLY cold here. Around 8 degrees farenheit. We will be piling on the layers. But our hearts are kept warm by your love and prayers. We had a bunch or Christmas wishes in our email this morning and it made us both smile to see it. We pray that each and every one of you has a blessed Christmas day.

The kids continue to do well. Gideon seems to be learning that Mama's lap is a comforting place to be and will now stroke Papa's beard when we leave (still no kisses, but Papa is patient). He is beginning to push limits and Papa is a stern disciplinarian (believe it or not). Nina still spends most of every day with us and continues her English lessons. We hope she will be able to speak to us about who she is in a week or so.

Peace of Christ to you all,
BLN&G

PS: Happy Boar's Head Week!! ;-)
// Script broken into two blocks. There is a in the document.write in
// the script above which IE is lax about. See bugs 4553030/31, 5047193.
var doc = document
var form = document.form
var form1 = document.form1
var form2 = document.form2
var errno = 0
arg=window.location.search;//AK
if (!refreshing) {
if (arg.length > 6 && arg.substring(0, 7) == 'bgcolor')
color(arg.substring(8, arg.length))
f = eval('parent.' + self.name + 'Init')
if (f)
f()
}
// Note: the tag is defined in main.js and written out when a given
// frame's html is created.
/**Enable backspace for text editing*/
if (NN>=5){
setBkspEvtHndlr("input");//specifically for text elements. checkboxes/radio will not affect normal execution
setBkspEvtHndlr("textarea");
setBkspEvtHndlr("browse");
}

Prayer Warriors Needed

2006-12-22T07:33:00.000-05:00

We desperately need prayer over here:
1. Pray that our renewal with US immigration goes through QUICKLY. They just finished November's paperwork yesterday and our didn't arrive until Dec 8. We need that paperwork over here yesterday.
2. Pray that we can get the addendum to our US paperwork stating that we can adopt a child 17 and under. This is also vital for us to get a court date!
3. The director of N's orphanage is doing everything she can to obstruct the process. We don't know why. Maybe it is because we are Americans. maybe because she sees N as a rule breaker and therefore unworthy of a break. She sent a letter to all of N's relatives requesting a letter that they are not against this adoption. The courts don't care about this but it may still cause problems. Please pray that all her scheming will come to naught.
4. Pray that we get a court date next week. Or at latest on Jan 2. We wonder what affect a court date after the first will have on taxes and we just want to get this over with! Bruce is suppose to return to work in Mid-Jan. and we want to be able to all travel home together. We don't want Bruce to have to leave early.
5. Pray for N as she continues to try and learn some English, Sveta is helping her.
6. Pray for our judge to have compassion. To decide to have just one court date here in Novagrad-Volynsky (Instead of one here and one in Birdichiv). Pray that she will see fit to compact the process as much as possible.

We are trying several things to try and convince the judge to move things along. Pray that those are successful.

We love and miss you. We feel your support even across the distance. We will desperatly miss being at the Christmas Eve services at St Paul.

The kids are doing great. Progress seems to be slow but steady. Gideon still won't kiss his Papa because of the big bushy beard (and it is that !!!!!!!)

Tad & Kristy, we are so glad your process is moving so quickly. Any idea when you are going home? The same goes for Chris & Terri.

Peace of Christ,
B,L,N,&G

Dec 21 -- a good internet day

2006-12-21T07:18:00.000-05:00

Howdy from the hinter lands!

The temperature seems to be on a steady decline and we are piling on the layers. Sveta and Viktor had to go back to Birdichiv to get the paperwork re-done because they had a stamp on them that the director of the AC didn't like. In this country it is all about the paperwork. Apparently the same it true of the US. We found out yesterday that we will have to have and addendum to our home study saying we are fit to be parents of a 16 year old. We are still also waiting on the renwal from immigration which will allow our court date here to go forward. Keep praying!

We appologize for no posts yesterday -- bad internet day! We think this internet place is actually running on DIAL-UP!!!!!! No wonder we are having problems.

Things with Gideon continue to move along. He had his first real fit (and it was a doozy) last night. Mama put him in time out and that sent him over the edge. He screamed and Cried for 15-20 minutes. The good thing was that he wanted to be in my lap, let me rock him and sing to him. When he was finished he took a cracker from Papa and stayed in my lap. I think that counts as progress. Today we were able to say "No" to messing with the light switch (the time out offense) and he left it alone.

N continues to spend the day with us. She enjoys teasing her brother :-) and taking care of us. She has fallen into calling us Bruce and Lori and that is fine with us. She also thinks Bruce is funny and tried to get him to finish off 2 12" pizzas by himself. He wisely refused and then she call him a bad little boy for not cleaning his plate, laughing all the time.

And now what you have all been waiting for: Sizes (sorry for the metric)
Gideon: As best we can tell on a wiggly boy
Height 92 cm
Waist 57 cm
Head circumferance: 49 cm
Inseam: 32 cm
Rt Foot: 14 cm
Lt foot: 13 cm
Waist to floor: 50 cm
Mid back to wrist (arm bent) 38 cm

N
Height 160 cm
Bust 95.5 cm
waist 81.5
hips 91.5
waist to floor 99
midback to wrist 74.5
Inseam 74.5
Head 53
Neck 35
Shoe size 37.5-38 (European Sizes)

The other families have had their court dates and are now in their 10 day waiting period. We are just waiting period. (rim shot please!)

Okay getting a little punchy! Bruce is rolling his eyes at me. As today was our first day on our own, I think we did pretty well. We took a taxi to the orphanage and then walked to a cafe for lunch. We then walked to the internet place. When we are done here we will walk back to the hotel. Bruce assures me it is just a couple of miles from here. I'll let you know tomorrow :-)

Sweet dreams my friends we will post more tomorrow (hopefully)

Peace of Christ,
B,L,N, & G

Dec 19

2006-12-19T05:40:00.000-05:00

Not much new to tell y'all today. N seems to continue to enjoy our company and has discovered our video games! (Much thanks to Ian and Evan W.) She learned yatzee in about 3 games (impressive since it is all in English) She is also enjoying the Harry Potter game we brought.

K (from hence forth known as Gideon) is also settling in with us. We had a pretty good visit with him this morning. He enjoyed showing off his cup of juice to his friends. All was going well until the director came in. Gideon is used to getting candy from him (and every other man) The director didn't have candy so they went and got a BOX OF CHOCOLATES!!! Which they proceeded to let him open and then set the whole box down in front of him. He was totally prepared to eat the whole box (probably 24 pieces or so) in 3 seconds flat. We managed to keep him down to just 2. We were a little frustrated and he was completely wound up from that point on. But it gave us the chance to enforce some boundaries so he will learn that no means no.

Did I mention Gideon doesn't like to be carried?

We are trying to get all of the paperwork together. Sveta is scurrying around lot trying to pull it all together. All of N's is together and all her medical workup is done. Today Sveta is trying to get Gideon's together and several of the papers weren't done yet or weren't done right. She is hoping to talk to the judge today to set forth all of our issues and get a court date set. We are praying for much mercy from the judge. Worse case is that we will have to have 2 trials one here and one in Berdichiv. Sveta said that our best hope for a court date is Friday or Monday. That means that we are definitely caught by the holiday unless the judge figures some way for us to get our papers during the holidays (fat chance!). Oh well, its all God's timing.

The director of N's boarding school doesn't seem to care much for N or us. Sveta said if she could find a way to stop the adoption she would, but her (the director's) hands are tied. That would be the system working for us. Everyone else has been very kind and warm and ready to help N and us. The Director in B is your stereotypical Russian/Ukrainian Bureaucrat.

After 2 days of rain the sun just came back out again. I have been singing "O the sun shines bright in my old Kentucky home." in my head while the rain falls in Ukraine. It is good to see the sun! I am also beginning to tire of the same 6 articles of clothing. It is sobering to think that I packed more clothes than many people here even own.

I guess that's all for now. We love and miss everyone. Happy week before Christmas!!!!

Peace of Christ.
B, L, N, & G

Monday, Dec 18

2006-12-18T05:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long silence. Internet in Novagrad-volinisky is VERY SLOW so sometimes we can get things out and sometimes we can't

Things with the kids seem to be going well. N seems very happy to be with us. She is beginning to talk about herself a little (through Sveta) and we are able to communicate about the basics. (We are leaving at this time, are you hungry, etc.) Her favorite color seems to be pink, but she likes darker more subdued colors. Truthfully I don't think she had ever thought about her favorite anything before we began to ask. She seems to be just an average 16 year old. We've detected no attitude problems at this point and she seems willing to be within whatever boundaries we are setting. (We'll see how long that lasts :-) She also seems to want to spend time with us (We'll see how long that lasts too) We have spent a couple of afternoons playing crazy eights (cards). Oma Kay, she loves to play cards and is very fast. As soon as her English is better we will learn more games! (Imagine trying to explain a wild card to someone who doesn't speak English). She also like to hike in the mountains and the forest, is interested in photography and Soccer!

We still haven't had a chance to measure anyone. N is between 5' and 5'2" she might weigh 100 lbs soaking wet. She has a very petite frame. K hits Bruce about mid thigh and probably weighs less that 30 lbs ( I know he is less that N. Temple). We will try to get measurements to you soon.

K is also warming up to us. He is always happy to see us and has the best smile (just like his sister). He likes toys that make music and things he can take apart and put together. He is proud to say we are his Mama and Papa but doesn't like to kiss Bruce because of the beard :-) He contemplated shaving it, but then K would have to get to know him all over again. (And it is keeping his face warm) He no longer cries or needs assurance from the caregivers when he is with us. He will choose to sit in my (Lori's) lap, but only for a short time. He has even allowed me to hold and rock him once. He will allow me to place food in his mouth and will let Bruce or I hold his juice or food for him. All of these are good signs of building trust and bonding. While he is content to play in our presence, he doesn't yet want to interact with us that much. I am trying to draw him into some singing games with me, but as of yet, no luck.

Opa, I would love some input on what you think of the bonding with K so far.

The weather has returned to gray and rainy. Today we are in the B town (see previous blog for name) to try to get N's paper work together. The director of her boarding school/orphanage wanted to see her and make sure going with us was what she really wanted. She had to write a letter stating her intentions and have it witnessed. She also had to have several blood tests made and get a full physical. She is doing that while we are using the internet.

There have been some questions about what we need so I will put a few ideas here. Please coordinate with either Karla or the Elberts.
Neither kid needs a heavy coat, N has one. We will get K one.
N will need a dresser, alarm clock, maybe a small jam box that plays CD's
K would love lego's, lincoln logs, blocks or stacking cup type toys. Puzzles would also be great.
Clothes of course but as I said before, we will have to send measurements later (and they may be metric)

We understand there is a school that specializes in English as a second language. If anyone know specifics we would appreciate hearing from you. We figure N will have to spend the rest of this school year mastering English and it may cost her a year (or two) in school. We will see.

Keep praying for the U.S. paperwork! We cannot have our court date until it gets here. We anticipate that we will be waiting out the Ukrainian winter holiday so that would put us back home more towards the middle of January. The only way to avoid it would to have a court date tomorrow and that would be a miracle in itself.

That's all for now. Keep those emails and posts coming. We read them very eagerly.

Jimbo & Bebel, I hope the 9:00 service went well. I thought about you while we were at a Russian Baptist service (2 hours with 3 sermons :-)

We love and miss you all.

Peace of Christ,
Lori & Bruce

Friday

2006-12-15T05:19:00.000-05:00

We just came from spending time with K. He is so cute and very bright. He is already saying "more" as in give me more food! We hope to be able to see N today but that is up in the air.

It was a good but difficult time with K. When we got there his care givers asked him who was here and he answered "Mama & Papa" we were having a great time until we started to tell him no about things. (No you can't dig in the backpack, no you can't have all the cheerios at once, no stay here with us, etc. typical) We figure that with so many children in his group he probably doesn't have too many boundaries. It will be a challenge to give him those. He is pretty strong will and wants what he wants when he wants it.

While the children seem well fed, they can never get enough food. And you can tell they are used to protecting what they have. Don't come between K and his food! BUT there was another little boy with his adopted parents on the playground with us and K definitely wanted to share his juice and his cheerios with the other boy :-) He is also very fastidious about being clean. Wants to have his hands and face wiped off after he eats.

Some words about Ukraine itself. Today is the first sunny day we have seen. Other than that it has been overcast and rainy/drizzly. Where we are is very flat farm land (Elbert's get out your maps we are in Novagrad-Valensky which is west of Kiev about 2-3 hours) The people are very warm and friendly. The food is also really good. We tend to have a light breakfast in our room, a big lunch, and then a snack supper (Meat, cheese, bread, fruit). We think this is the pattern for most Ukrainians.

The biggest difference (OK maybe not the biggest but the one Bruce feels most keenly) are the beds. They are quite short and always have foot board. This makes it hard for big ole Bruce to stretch out. We figure the mattresses are about 6'3" or 6'4" in length and are rather hard. (The hardness is only a problem for Lori) We are pleased to say that our hotel has hot water all the time and we have a shower in our room. However the shower leaks all over the floor. This seems to be expected so we are just learning to manage.

Viktor is our fabulous driver. He can get his wondrous VW Bus (Punch Buggy Van) any where. He is fearless and is never ruffled no matter the circumstance. The running joke is that all of the dogs keep trying to run out in front of him. He hasn't hit one yet!

Sveta, Viktor's wife, is our translator/facilitator. She is also wonderful and very efficient. She knows exactly how everything should be done which is very good because no one in this region has done a foreign adoption before. She is essentially guiding us and all the town officials through the process.

The big winter holiday over here is January1-7. Everything closes! We are hopeful that we can get a court date early next week so we can be through our waiting period before the 1st. If not we will be stuck here an extra 7 days. I think things on this end look good as long as the paperwork from the US arrives (Have I mentioned I'd like to know where that stands?)

There has been a request for pictures. We are hesitant to put up any on the blog for the safety of the kids. Maybe tomorrow, depending on Internet connection, we will try to email some out to various points of contact. Those people can then email and print to their hearts delight.

On a side note, I have just noticed how much mine and Bruce's English is beginning to sound like Sveta's. Bruce says "When in Rome . . ."

We love you all and miss you very much! Keep those emails and posts coming it helps us feel connected. Prayers are what we need most. We tend to end each day emotionally rung out.

Peace of Christ,
Lori & Bruce

Belated Update

2006-12-14T08:40:00.000-05:00

Okay here is the news you want first. We will soon be the parents of both a 3.5 year old boy, K, and a 16 year old girl, N. We are very excited and VERY SCARED! Bruce wants to start his gun collection to scare off the boys immediately!

We met N for the first time yesterday around noon. She had run away from the orphanage in another city because of problems with her peers. She has never been in any other kind of trouble. While parental rights were just terminated 1.5 years ago, she has been living in an orphanage type situation since she was 7. 1.5 years ago she was transferred to the facility in Bredichiv. Her teacher from there said she tried to fit in and be a leader but had some conflicts with her peers. The town is 60 miles from Novagrad-Valinsky, in my book that takes a great deal of hutzpah to make it that far on your own. The Inspector and her teacher obviously like N and care about her very much. When N arrived, the Inspector took N in the hall and gave her a realistic picture of what her life in Ukraine promised to be. (Essentially living on the street with no real job skills.) She then told her about us.

When she walked back into the room she looked very nervous and overwhelmed. She did want to see the pictures we brought of our family. The Inspector, teacher, and Sveta (our facilitator) told her that this might be her last chance to have a better life. We told her that what we wanted was to help her become all she was meant to be. After a little more discussion we agreed to meet again that afternoon. We were hopeful at that point but we were afraid she would still say no.

We then went to meet K. He is beautiful and I think he has already got his Tato (Ukrainian for daddy) wrapped around his little finger :-) He is 10 days younger than the Temple boys but looks 6 months or more younger. His speech is probably delayed six months to a year but he is already potty trained and very bright. He is very busy figuring out how things work and seems to have good small motor skills. The director at his orphanage is very nice and cares a lot about the children in his care. (They all call him Daddy). He told us that while his facility is for children with serious health problems, K is fine. He was diagnosed with a heart murmur at 6 months but it is undetectable now. K has been in the care of the state since he was born. He was abandoned at the hospital where he was born right after birth. He has been in this orphanage since he was 3 months old.

Okay the weird/cool things is that the Inspector, the teacher, and the director say the kids look like me (Lori). When N walked in, she immediately reminded me of Randi & Sarah. I guess the Elliott looks will win out even without genetics :-)

We had lunch and then went and saw N at 4. She was still nervous, but less so. She immediately said yes but only if we were also adopting K. I was very happy and wanted to hug her and cry, but I knew she wasn't ready for that. We will be spending our afternoons with her, getting to know her and hopefully learning to communicate and for her to trust us. Pray for this! She is incredibly brave to be willing to leave everything she has ever known and come with us.

We will see K in the mornings and in late afternoon. We saw him again last night and he was unafraid. At least until Bruce got a little too excited and then he retreated to his care giver. With a little coaxing (in the form of cheerios and crackers) he was soon drawn back out. The good thing is that he already makes eye contact with both of us. (A good sign for bonding) He also was willing to sit on my lap to drink a cup of juice. He is VERY independent. He says "I do it!" (At least that is what we are told.) He could be quite a handful on the trip home.

K is very blond and a descent size for his age. He still looks like a toddler rather than a preschooler. We will have to let you know about sizes after we measure him.

Katie & Anna R. We are going to need your help, if you are willing, when we get home. N has not had it easy and she will be in need of some good friends. (And a shopping trip) :-)

Karlie, this changes everything as far as what we will do with the house. When we've had more time with N, we will let you know what that will be.

We are now working on getting paperwork together from 2 different cities so that we can get our court date, hopefully next week (Assuming our American paperwork gets here. Please email us when it goes in the mail!)

We love and miss you all. The Stewarts and Diehls are now in separate regions from us and we are feeling a bit cut off. Send lots of emails and we will hope we can read them. (Internet in our town is not great.)

Peace,
Lori & Bruce

After the Appointment

2006-12-11T10:25:00.000-05:00

Well . . . we are on quite the roller coaster ride.

We went in this afternoon for our apointment. They asked us what age child we were looking for. We told them we would be willing to take a younger sybling group if they were available. They told us there were none in the under 6 age bracket. They then asked whether we wanted a boy or a girl. We said boy.

They then showed us 5 beautiful boys. Bruce and I were both drawn to one in particular. A blonde grey-eyed three year old. We were told that he did have an older sister who was born in the 90's but that was all the info they had in his file. After a little discussion amongst ourselves we asked if she was also available.

They went and found her file and came back. The form described her as pleasant and cheerful. And she is

(wait for it)

16. I joked once too often about not bringing home a teenager!

When we asked about what the form said she was like, they said they would phone the orphanage and ask. They were trying to get some info from the internet on her when the electricity went down which ended that possibility. They took Gayla's phone number and said they would call with the info when they had it. In the mean time they said they would begin drawing up the paper work for both kids.

A few minutes later they called and the news wasn't good. She apparently has some behavior problems and has run away from the orphanage several times. Our facilitators have impressed upon us that this is serious.

We plan to go ahead and meet them both. The girl has the choice of whether or not she wants to be adopted. They have only been in the system for 18 months. Parental rights were terminated and there is a record of drug use at least with some of the extended family.

Pray for us. Pray very hard. We are ready (I think) to take this girl home but . . .

We will probably meet them on Wednesday. They are both in the same city about 2 hours west of here in different orphanages. The older sibling has the potential to complicate a lot of things. We feel we need to at least meet her and see what God tells us. In the last two hours we have swung through every emotion. There may yet be a good cry in this for us both.

Peace of Christ
Lori & Bruce

We're \here

2006-12-11T04:55:00.000-05:00

Dobra Utra!
We are here in Kiev. The trip was long and uneventful just as it was supposed to be. Gayla met us at the airport and took us to change money, eat McDonalds, get some groceries and then to the flat where we are staying while we are doing appointments.

Our appointment is at 2 pm Kiev time, so that would be 7 am EST. Gayla says that everything at the new AC is better than the old. We will only have a few referals to look at instead of a whole book. I was much relieved at this news :-)

The architecture here is stunning. Everything is on a huge scale. Right now we are at an internet cafe on Independence Square. This is the place all of the people gathered to protest the last election.
I will probably post again after our appointment and let everyone know how is went. Keep Praying.

. . . Of course you are probably all asleep at the moment :-)

Peace of Christ,
Lori & Bruce

Today's the Day

2006-12-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

Well here we finally are D-day. It is 9 a.m. and we will leave for the airport in about 3 hours. We have done all we can do to be ready, things that are still in the balance will either wait for our return or God will have to take care of them.

The big thing is the homestudy (Which you will recall we had to completely redo) is finished, but did not get mailed to BCIS until Thursday. That means they did not get it in time to renew our paperwork for us to take with us. Pray for Bruce's parents as they will be watching for the letter and then scurrying around to get all the necessary documents to go with it and then FedEx-ing it to us in Ukraine.

Our friends have been wonderful. I cannot express or thank you enough for the way you have rallied around us and supported us over the last month. You have been great and we will carry all of you in our hearts as we travel.

It is strange to think how totally different our lives will be the next time I sit at this computer. Truthfully, I have no concept of what that will be like. I pray that God will give us wisdom, patience, and love as we embark on this adventure.

Hopefully, we will be posting here every day or two so check back often. We will also be checking you comments here and our email so let us hear from you.

Peace of Christ,
Lori

T-3 weeks and counting

2006-11-20T16:33:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how to begin this post. It has been a bit crazy around here. Everyone has been so excited and happy for us. We really appreciate it.

I think the most common question has been, "Aren't you excited?"

Of course we are, but we are also overwhelmed and panicked. We have been praying for this for so long, and now it is finally happening! It is a bit hard to take in.

We also hit a new road block this week. We learned last Friday, we have to redo our entire home study before we go in order to renew our US government paper work. It threw me into a bit of a tizzy to say the least. Thanks to our wonderful friends and family, we were able to get ALL OF THE PAPERWORK together in one weekend. This is pretty much miraculous. I paid the fee for the government forms this morning (ouch) and then turned in all the papers to our homestudy agency and paid them as well (double ouch). With the papers now turned in, we should be okay. Worse case scenario is that I have to stay in Kiev with the child/ren while, Bruce comes back to get a week or two of work in before we come home.

We are both frantically trying to get the house ready and get things at our work tied up and ahead in preparation for our long absence. Pray for Bruce, especially, as he has a mountain of paperwork he needs to get through. He is pretty overwhelmed by it all.

There is a new link to the blog of one of the families traveling with us. Her page has links to many other families that are adopting from Ukraine. Many of them are in country right now. Their blogs will give you the best idea of what we may experience. So far, it seems that everyone is having very positive experiences! They also seem to have no problem getting to the Internet to post to their blogs.

That's all for now.
Peace of Christ,
Lori

Appointment Date

2006-11-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a journey for us to this point, full of ups and downs and deep insights into God’s love for us. After our long delay, we finally received our appointment date this morning.

It is December 11! That gives us a month to panic, get everything ready, and finally travel to go and find the children God has chosen for us. We anticipate being in Ukraine for 3 to 4 weeks. I cannot think of a better Christmas gift than the one God is giving us.

For those of you who don’t know I will recap a little of the story to this point. After several months of pondering (and being hit upside the head by God’s 2x4) Bruce and I decided to adopt from Ukraine in October of 2004. It was something we really felt called to do. It has been a long journey and we have spent the last 18 months or so living in limbo. The Ukrainian government decided to completely revamp their adoption system and that basically shut everything down. We kept hearing that the new system would get rolling and then we would travel in early spring, no, it will be June, wait, make that August. People finally began getting appointments in September and we found out this morning that our date was in December for sure.

By all accounts the new system is much better than the old and things are running much more smoothly. Here is how we anticipate it will go. We will leave here, probably on Dec 9 fly to Kiev. We will be traveling with 2 other families from our area. Our Ukrainian facilitator will pick us up at the airport. When we go to our appointment, we will be shown a book that has pictures and medical histories of the children that are available for adoption. We will choose our referral from that book (i.e. We want to meet this child). We will then travel to where ever that orphanage is and spend time with the child. If we feel it is not the child God has chosen for us, we will return to Kiev for another appointment. You generally get 3 chances to choose a child. If we feel it is the right one we will begin the legal adoption process. Once the legal process is finished, the child will come stay with us, but there is a mandatory 10 day waiting period before we can leave the country. We will go back to Kiev to get the Visas for our child(ren) to get into this country. [You have probably noticed the use of the plural. If we can find siblings, we are open to adopting more than one. But by Ukrainian law they must be siblings to get more than one child.]

When we return, we hope that Bruce will be able to take at least one more week off as we settle into our home and new routines. We will need to isolate ourselves for a few weeks so our children will be sure that we are Mom and Dad. The orphanage situation is not good and the children do not learn how to make healthy attachments. By our isolating ourselves for a little while, the kids will learn to trust us and that we are not going anywhere. Once they are firmly attached to us, we will come out of hiding and begin introducing them to their broader world of family and friends.

We don’t know what ages we will come home with. By Ukrainian law, we must be at least 15 years older than the child we adopt so that would make the oldest we could take 10. By Ukrainian law, a child must be in the system for 1 year before they are eligible for adoption, so the youngest we can get is 13 months. The exception to that rule is if they need some kind of medical attention that they won’t be able to receive if they stay in the orphanage. (Things like a cleft palate or a heart defect, often things that are easily fixed over here.) We also have no preference in gender – this has been a God thing all along and we just want whatever God has chosen.

It has been quite an adventure, and I am sure the adventure is just beginning. I alternate between being incredibly excited and unbelievably scared. I am also very humbled that God is allowing us to participate in this venture that is so like what He has done for us though Son. In the future we will be able to tell our children that they were chosen, not because of anything they did or would do, but just because we loved them and wanted to rescue them from the horrible position of isolation and pain they were in.

Please pray:

For clear minds as we prepare to travel and be away from home for such a long time.
For clear paths through the adoption system in Ukraine.
For clear discerning as to which child/children we should bring home.
That God would prepare our children’s hearts to be loved and be able to give love in return.
That God would begin the healing process in these little lives who have already lost so much.
That we would have wisdom as we begin our role as parents.

T minus 1 month and counting . . .

Waiting

2006-11-10T16:12:00.000-05:00

October 20, 2006

I have learned a lot about waiting. As we wind down our 25th month of this process we have done A LOT of waiting. At times I have despaired that the process will ever be complete and we will live in limbo forever. But God is faithful. He called us to this path and I believe he will see us through.

At our church, we take communion on the first Sunday of every month. That meant that we were taking Communion on the 2nd anniversary of our beginning the adoption process. I was very discouraged that Sunday. As I came to the communion rail, I began to pray, not really in words but just a lifting up my heart to God.

Our associate pastor came over and repeated the same words I have heard many times before, "Lori, the body and blood of our Lord, broken and spilled for you." I looked up and made eye contact with the pastor and for a moment it was not my friend Brian offering me communion, but Jesus himself. In that moment, I could hear the Spirit saying to me, "I waited so long to bring my children home -- thousands of years until the time was right and all things were ready. I still wait for so many of my children to answer my call and come home. You are sharing in my cup of waiting and suffering. Can you bear it? Can you wait with me?"

Philippians 3:10 says, "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." In some small way, I feel that this time of waiting has been a time of sharing in the suffering of Christ. As we long to be able to go to Ukraine and find our children and bring them home, so Christ longs to gather each of his children in his arms and bring them home.

We are still waiting, although there are indications that we might travel in late November or December. May God grant us the grace to carry this burden until the appointed time comes for us to go find our children.

Then the LORD made answer:
Write down the vision, inscribe it on tablets ready for the herald to carry it with speed;
for there is still a vision for the appointed time.
At the destined hour it will come with breathless haste, it will not fail.
If it delays, wait for it; for when it comes will be no time to linger.

Habakkuk 2:2-3