National Adoption Awareness Month

(2 other posts today - see below)

Well I didn't post every day this month like I'd planned, but I did better than I had expected. And I managed to chronicle our day-by-day journey in Ukraine. (I'll continue to chronicle the day-by-day through to the one-year anniversary of our homecoming.)

We pray that at some point during this month God spoke to your heart, and that you will find a way to come to the aid of orphans.

And of course, if you ever have questions about adoption, feel free to email us at dovefamily@bellsouth.net.

Nov 30: Last orphanage visit

11/30/07: Day 9 of our 10 day wait.

(The 10 day wait typically starts the day after court, and in most cases it is calendar days. Much depends on the region of course! Then you can pick up the court decree and start working on passports and birth certificates on Day 11. Our Day 11 would be falling on a Sunday, so we would have to wait until Day 12 to get moving on things. For those still waiting to travel, keep in mind that many regions will not process certain paperwork on Mondays either, so that can also cause another day of delays in some cases.)

We arrived at the orphanage at 10:00, but the receptionist was in a meeting. At 10:15 one of the caregivers came down with another child. I asked her if I could get Stasik. She took me upstairs to his room (Room 6). He was playing when we walked in. She called his name. He looked up and saw me and a big smile came over his face. He started towards me, but the caregiver said something and he stopped. I noticed he was wearing a light-weight green sweater and khaki shorts with tights. But apparently the lady was telling him he had to change before going downstairs. And guess what he changed into... yep, the Mickey Sweater and what we had started callin his "George Strait jeans". He got changed and then walked downstairs with me.


When we got downstairs I asked him if I could pick him up, and held my arms down towards him. He held his arms back up at me, so I grabbed him up and carried him to the art room. HE got down and gave Zack a big hug. He sat down and ate his apple with peanut butter, drank his juice, and had a chocolate.

We all played Legos for a while, then his grandmother arrived. We sat and looked at pictures and she gave him juice and a cookie. The receptionist came in and interpreted for a minute as we assured the grandmother that we will always take good care of him and love him and protect him. She asked if we would send pictures to her once a year. She kneeled to tell him good-bye and hug him, and at that all three of us (babushka, Zack, and I) began to cry. We excused ourselves so she could say good-bye in private. A few minutes later she opened the door and we went back in. We hugged and thanked each other, and she said good-bye and left.

We played a while longer, and then it was time for us to go. His grandmother had left a bag of chocolates and a bag of cookies. He ate one more on his way back and I told him we'd save the rest for later. We walked back to the receptionist but she wasn't around. So I walked him back to his groupa for the last time. While I did that, Zack went outside and filmed the exterior of the orphanage.

Misha took us back to the apartment. We had lunch and read for a while. We watched 24 and went to get some groceries. We got back and watched some more episodes of 24, then watched Invincible. After that we played cards and watched the Office. It was Friday night - we just had to get through the weekend and we'd finally have our boy!

Nov 29: another day closer

11/29/07: Day 8 of our 10 day wait.

We slept in again today, then watched another sermon and Facing the Giants. We went down to the cafe to check email and get on Skype. We went by Abzhora to get some water, bread, and a few other items.

We got back to the apartment and had lunch. Then we watched 4 episodes of 24. We watched a couple of episodes of the Office - we'd finished Season 3 the day before, so we started back on Season 1 on this day.

We had dinner, then played cards and watched Christmas Vacation again. We hung out and talked for a while, then went to bed listening to the I*Pod.

Nov 28: Seeing our boy again!

(Two posts in one day - be sure to read the one below)

11/28/08: We got up and prepared toys and snacks for our visit. Misha picked us up and dropped us off. We had a great visit and were really counting down the days until we could take him out of the orphanage forever.

We had Misha drop us off at Celentano's pizza instaed of the apartment. 2 pizzas and 2 drinks for about $8.00! We walked back and stopped off at the internet cafe for an hour. Then back to the apartment for DVD's and a few phone calls, and dinner.




Click here to read our Nov 27 post from our adoption blog.

Nov 27: Meeting the Babushka

11/27/07: We slept late, and then spent about an hour at the internet cafe. On the way back to our apartment we picked up some groceries, then stopped and bought some flowers for the babushka (grandmother). We got back and got cleaned up.

Misha picked us up at 3:20 and we arrived at the orphanage at 3:30. The receptionist said the grandmother would be there around 4:00. They brought our boy down about 3:40, and then the grandmother arrived.

We introduced ourselves and gave her the flowers. We sat down at the table in the art room and the receptionist said she'd be back in 15 minutes. The grandmother had brought our boy a juice box, and brought us all a box of chocolates. We showed her one of the photo books that we'd made for our trip, and told her she could keep it. She gave us some pictures of our boy, and we tried to communicate a little bit. The receptionist returned and we exchanged addresses. The grandmother only stayed about 30 minutes, then insisted on giving the three of us some time alone. She asked if it would be okay if she came back once more before he left, and agreed to come during our Friday visit.

We stayed and played until 5:30. He was more active and energetic than we'd ever seen him before: very talkative and lively! I walked him back to his groupa and gave the remaining chocolates to the caregivers.

Misha drove us back to the apartment and we walked to the Moscow market for a couple of things. We returned to the apartment and had dinner, then watched 24 and The Office beforegoing to bed.

It had been an emotional day, but in the end we were glad to have made a connection with someone in his birth family. She was very kind. It was obvious she only wanted what was best for her grandson, and was hopeful to be able to continue to have contact with us in the future.

By the way, did you notice he was wearing a different sweater on this day? This was the ONLY day he didn't wear the Mickey sweater!

Happy Thanksgiving

We're about to start getting ready for a busy day with lots of family, lots of food, and lots of driving. So there'll be no time to blog about our experiences one year ago today. It was of course a big day in our journey: the day we met William's biological grandmother. So I'll try to get caught up tomorrow.



Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Nov 26: An upcoming visit?

11/26/07: Day 5 of our 10 day wait.

We slept until almost 10:00 this Monday morning. We watched sermon #4 then got ready to go out. We decided to do some walking today, to explore parts of the city that we hadn't seen. It was a little warmer (+8C) so it was a good day for it.

We left the apartment around 11:30. We strolled up Lenina. The internet cafe was the furthest we'd walked before, but we went much further today. We took pictures and video along the way. We got to the square at the end of the street and took pictures of the theater (the white building you see in one of the pictures). We started making our way back towards the apartment, this time on the other side of the street.

We saw a pizza place and thought about stopping, but Zack wasn't sure if we'd be able to order. We kept walking, then he said "We could try if you want." I told him I thought we could muddle our way through. We ordered a pizza with tomatoes and cheese (all the words I knew!) and drinks. We took our drinks and a number to the table. About 10 minutes later a girl brought our paizza. It was very good - plenty for the 2 of us. And the whole meal cost us less than$5.00! We were very proud of ourselves to have gone out to a restaurant on our own.

We sat and watched people for a little while, then bundled up and hit the road again. We ran in the grocery store to pick up some cookies and a small bag of dog food. There was a dog that would always hang out behind our apartment building - we had nicknamed him Scruffy. Zack fed him a piece of ham a few days ago and we've seen him wandering arround the vendors on the corner.

We walked back to our apartment, hoping to see Scruffy. Just as we got behind the buildings, Zack spotted him nosing through the trash. He took the ba of food and dumped it out for him. Scruffy seemed happy, and as we left, he and a white cat were enjoying it.
We went back to the apartment and read for a while. We watched a couple of episodes of 24 and The Office.

Luda called to say that Stasik's grandmother wanted to meet us. This made us a little nervous, since we were still in the wait period, when any family member or orphanage staff person could contest our adoption. But we had to do it. She wanted us to meet her at the orphanage on Tuesday at 3:30, and we could stay and visit with our boy until 5:30. While we were nervous about the meeting, we were so excited to finally see our guy again. The even better news was that we would also be allowed to visit him on Wednesday and Friday from 10 - 12!

We were happy that we would get to see our little man again. We were nervous and anxious about meeting his grandmother.

Nov 25: More of the same

11/25/07: Day 4 of our 10 day wait.

This day was like the day before, and the one before that. Movies, internet cafe, food, TV, books... but we still couldn't visit our boy. We were missing him terribly.

In an attempt to combat boredom over the weekend, Zack created the following video for our parents and siblings and emailed it to them while we were at the internet cafe.

Nov 24: Waitin' (Day 3)

11/24/07: Day 3 of our 10 day wait.

Saturday morning. We planned to sleep in, but we were awake by 7:30. We watched Sermon #2. Then we watched Premonition (strange movie!).

After that we both read for a while. We decided to walk to Amstor to pick up some groceries (and kill some time). On the way there we walked around the outdoor market. On the way back we strolled through a park with a big memorial (we think it is for WWII).

We got back to our apartment and had lunch. Then we walked down to the internet cafe. We came back and watched A Christmas Story, then and a few episodes of The Office. We had dinner, then fell asleep listening to the I-Pod.

Nov 23: Back to Mariupol (Day 2)

11/23/07: Day 2 of our 10 day wait. Jonathan drove us back to Mariupol early on this Friday morning. We arrived back at our apartment at 8:15. We decided to start a sermon series on DVD that we'd taken with us. This was an 8-part series, so we thought watching one a day would be a nice way to get through most of our wait period.
After that we watched the movie RV. Then we slept for a while. We walked down to the internet cafe and talked to some of our famil. We sent emails and updated the blog, including positing the first pictures of our son!
We went back to the apartment and had dinner, then did what we do every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving: we watched Christmas Vacation! After that we watched 24 and The Office before going to bed.

Click here to read our blog post from 11/23/07.

Oops!

I forgot to blog yesterday! But I will try my best to catch up later today with what we were doing in Ukraine last year at this time.

Nov 22: Thanksgiving in Ukraine

(If you haven't already, be sure to take a look at the other post from today, with William's acting debut!)

11/22/07: Jonathan picked us up at 7:30 on Thursday morning and we drove to Berdyansk. We arrived around 8:45 and were greeted by Heather, Maya and Sasha. We visited, talked, played, and had coffee. Heather's parents had recorded the Macy*s parade last Thanksgiving and sent it over, so we watched it for a while. Zack read some Thanksgiving and Christmas books to the girls, and they did a Thanksgiving craft.

Around 12:30 it was time for lunch. Turkey is not a common thing to serve in Ukraine, but a man in the next village over had raised and 'prepared' a turkey for the Powells. Heather, always the wonderful cook, had gone all out for Thanksgiving. Along with the home-grown turkey, we enjoyed stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls. Everything was delicious!

Shortly after lunch the girls went down for a nap, and we enjoyed some coffee and pumpkin pie. After the girls got up, we went for a ride down to a different part of the shore. We saw a boat that was run aground into the rocks during the recent storms. Some of the old cement barrier walls had crumbled as well.

After that, we drove into town and went to a place called Neon. It's an indoor "zoo" - mainly aquariums of fish and reptiles. It was a nice way to spend some time out.


We went back to their place and munched on leftovers. We played play*do with the girls for a while. Then Zack and I got on the computer for an hour or so. We talked to some of our family through Skype. We played some more with the girls, then they went to bed. We watched a couple of episodes of Friends before laying down for the night.

It was different from any Thanksgiving we'd ever had before, but by far I think it is our most memorable Thanksgiving ever, and definitely a good one! We had much to be thankful for: that God led us to meet the Powells; for friendships that are built on and because of Him; for blessing us by leading us to our son in Ukraine; for keeping us safe on our journey; for protecting our son for his first 5 1/2 years; for family and friends back home that were supporting us through love, prayers, emails, and finances; and of course most importantly for a Savior who died so that we might live. Half a world away from the land where we'd normally celebrate this day, we went to bed feeling blessed and encouraged, and once again re-energized by the time spent with our "Ukraine family".

Praise the Lord - Part II

William was awesome as the Pilgrim Minister yesterday. He said his line 4 0r 5 times and did great every time. Here's a peek at the little actor...

We also had fun at his Thanksgiving Feast afterwards. We are very thankful for our little pilgrim!

Praise the Lord!

There are several significant dates that we remember in relation to William’s adoption:

• Nov 9: Metcha Day – the day we met our son for the first time
• Nov 21: William Day – the day we went to court, legally changed his name, and officially became his parents
• Dec 3: Gotcha Day – the day we sprung him from the orphanage
• Dec 7: America Day – the day we touched down on U.S. soil, William became a citizen, and we finally felt the weight of the adoption stress lifted

So today we celebrate “William Day”! You can read the post below about what happened one year ago today.

Today we will go to his school for the Thanksgiving Play and Feast. We will watch our son as he makes his acting debut as the Pilgrim Minister. And we’ll (hopefully) hear him say his line, “Praise the Lord!”

What a fitting line, as we are definitely praising the Lord on this day. In our own power, we could not have done this. But with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26) and He certainly paved the road that led us to our son.

Nov 21: It's a Boy!

11/21/07: We woke up and began preparing for court. We were stressed and our fuses were short. At one point Zack couldn’t find his wallet. We began to panic and worry that he’d left it at Supermarket Moskva when we walked down there the night before. We looked and looked for about 30 minutes, and just as he and Leonid were about to walk to the market, we found it back behind a dresser. Nothing like a little added stress to make the morning interesting!


We went to visit William in our dress clothes, so playing was a little more subdued. We took one of his sweaters and put it on him so we could take some family pictures all dressed up. We planned to leave about 11:30 so we could make it to court on time. We ended up having to leave around 11:00 due to some unexpected visitors at the orphanage. So Leonid drove us down to the shore and we took some pictures of a part of Mariupol we hadn’t seen before.

We went to the court building and waited in the hall outside the courtroom. Finally we were called in. Luda instructed us that we should not cross our legs when sitting or clasp our hands in front of us when standing. Apparently these can be construed as disrespectful in Ukraine – who knew?! The judge, a secretary, and 2 jurors sat at the head of the room. We sat with Luda, facing them. To one side of us were the regional prosecutor and regional inspector, and to the other was the orphanage attorney (an attractive girl who looked to be about 23 or 24 years old).

Court began and the judge was a very stern woman who never once smiled and rarely looked at us. She began reading documents, and Luda would periodically lean over and translate. Zack was asked to stand and state his name, where he lived, a little about himself and why he was here. Then the judge asked for questions, but no one had any. Then I had to stand and do the same. A couple of questions were asked, but nothing too tough. The judge read pretty much our entire dossier, so it took a while. Then something was said, and everyone stood up. The judge and jury left the room. Luda advised that the judge had recessed us until after lunch, at which time she would render her decision.

So we went to the supermarket and got a bite to eat. Funny, as I read back over this it seems like anytime there was downtime we would go to buy food!

We returned to the court room about an hour or so later. After what seemed like an eternity everyone returned to the room. We stood again, and although I couldn’t understand the judge, I knew what was being said. I’d occasionally hear our names or the name of our son, and finally Luda leaned over and told us that she had ruled in our favor. We now had a son! This part of court took less than 10 minutes and it was over. We began to exit the room and one of the jurors smiled and congratulated us.

We began the drive back to the apartment. It was then that it was suggested we not visit our son during the mandatory 10-day-wait period. It’s a very long story, but there were some issues going on at the orphanage (that had absolutely nothing to do with us). And everyone just thought it might be best if we lay low so as to not jeopardize anything. We reluctantly agreed. It was disappointing to say the least, but at this point we just wanted to do whatever it took to get our boy out of there and home.

Leonid and Luda headed back to Kyiv. We had dinner and then decided to walk down to the market to get some Coke Light. On the way back to the apartment, the phone rang. It was Jonathan, and he was calling to ask how court went. We told him the great news that we were now William’s parents! He then invited us to spend Thanksgiving with them the next day. Needless to say, we were excited! We had been dreading spending the next day alone. So Jonathan said he’d come by early the next morning and pick us up, and then return us on Friday.

Nov 20: More of the same

11/20/07: This was “just another day in Ukraine” – nothing monumental to tell about. We had a nice visit with our boy and then went to the internet café and updated the blog.

Leonid and Luda returned that evening so that they’d be with us for court the next day.

Click here to read our blog post from Nov 20, 2007






Also, I've received a couple of links for adoption groups and adoption stories that I thought I'd pass along. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/770459.html
http://www.heartofthebride.org/

Remember, it's National Adoption Awareness Month. Please consider how YOU can make a difference in the life of an orphaned child!

Nov 19: Back to the old routine

(Two posts today - be sure to read the Q&A post below this one)

11/19/07: We woke up very early and Jonathan drove us back to Mariupol. It had been a great weekend. We were sad to say goodbye to our friends, but thankful for the time we got to spend with them.

We arrived about an hour before our driver would be there, so we rested for a few minutes and then got things together for our visit. We didn’t know how our boy might react since we hadn’t seen him a couple of days, but all was well. We enjoyed seeing him again and spending time getting to know him better. We were looking forward to having our court hearing in just 2 more days!

Q&A

Occasionally people ask questions in the comments section of our blog, or when they see us around. So I’ll answer some here…

Anonymous asked about Kriddazark, our Elf on the Shelf: “Where did you get it?” While ours came straight from the North Pole, I happen to know that you can also ‘order’ them at Hallmark.


Mamaporuski said: “I am sorry I never jumped from your last blog to your new one...but I am here now...did you miss me?” Of course I missed you. I’m so glad you’re back!

The Kaysers asked: “So, what were you on GMA and Good Day Atlanta for? Oh, and have you ever tried dipping fries into a Wendy's Frosty, it is awesome!” I was on Good Morning America in a brief clip about a book I was featured in when I was going through chemo. CLICK HERE to read about the book – it’s really cool! I was on Good Day Atlanta as a student representative and spokesperson for Strayer College, on a segment about online education. And yes, I LOVE dipping fries into a Frosty – chocolate or vanilla. I introduced William to that just last week, and he agreed that it’s yummy!

Anonymous commented: “You never had appendicitis, but maybe they took your appendix out when they were operating for another reason- so they just grabbed it. I don't know if they still do this, but I know they used to all the time.” It took the doctors several months before they diagnosed me with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. At one point they did exploratory surgery, thinking I might have appendicitis. They removed my appendix, as well as a lymph node that was the size of an egg. All tests came back negative – no cancer. Obviously it was just too early.

And here are some common questions we get asked about our adoption...

Did you like the food in Ukraine? We were both nervous about the food. But I can tell you that in those 33 days of living abroad, we never once went hungry! First and foremost (sorry to my blog friend Michelle who must eat gluten-free), the bread is, in the words of our U.S. facilitator “to die for”! We loved walking to Abzhora every afternoon and buying a loaf fresh from the ovens. We also liked to keep these things on hand: Russian cheese, Patos chips with the red pepper on the bag, vanilla sandwich crackers, Bonaqua water with the LIGHT blue label & cap, Kinder bars, Coke Light, Milka Chocolates, and fizzy fruit drinks. And in our freezer, you could almost always find vareniky, spicy popcorn chicken, french fries, and chicken kyiv. We tended to eat 4 or 5 times a day, and every evening we enjoyed chocolates, WAY more than we eat at home. And yet, we both managed to lose a good bit of weight!

How long did your adoption process take? From the day we decided to adopt until the day of our SDA appointment, it was 9 months (then a month in country). Pretty cool! But this is not always the norm. Many families we know have experienced much longer waits.

How much does it cost to adopt from Ukraine? There are so many factors that go into it. Independent or agency will affect your expenses. The region you’re in can affect the cost of food & lodging, as well as the length of time it takes to get through the process. If you decide to do it all in one trip, you’ll pay more in lodging, food, etc., plus have more time away from work. But if you decide to make it 2 trips, you’ll probably have more airfare expense. If you eat out every meal, you’ll spend a lot more. Most orphanages request/require a donation, but the amount will vary depending on the orphanage. And of course if you adopt more than one child, you have to pay for multiple birth certificates, passports, visas, medical exams, and plane tickets (not to mention clothes, food, etc). I’ve heard some people get through everything as low as $16k, and others spending well over $30k. If you add up EVERYTHING we spent from the very first day we decided to adopt until the day we got his U.S. passport, ours was right at $24k.

It's a lot of money, yes. But NEVER put limits on God. If you truly believe that He is calling you to adopt, then don't get hung up on a dollar figure. There are grants, fundraisers, etc. It can be done!

Nov 18: Worship in a different language

11/18/08: Outside of finding our son in Ukraine, I think one of the best things we got to do during our 33 day trip was going to church with the Powell’s. On Sunday morning, we had breakfast and then we all bundled up and walked to church. The service lasted for about 2 hours. We sat on the back row so that Jonathan could periodically lean over and translate. We recognized many of the hymns, so as the congregation sang in Russian/Ukrainian we would just sing the same song in English. The music was beautiful, and it was really exciting to experience a church service in a different language and cultural setting. The people were incredibly kind and welcoming. The love of God definitely transcended the language barrier!

We walked back to the apartment and had lunch. Then Zack and I went with Jonathan to the next village over to attend a church service there. It was made up of about 15 or 20 people meeting in a music school building. It was a very simple service, but we really enjoyed it. While we’d seen a lot of poverty throughout Ukraine, it was obvious that this village was especially poor. We got to hear Jonathan teach in Russian, which was really cool. At the end, there was a time to share prayer requests. Many of these people had endured severe damage to their homes in the prior week’s storms. Yet their first request was our adoption of Stanislav. How awesome to join in prayer with fellow believers, and know that God understands each and every voice, regardless of the tongue.


We went back to the house and played with the girls for a while, then had dinner (spaghetti - Heather is such a great cook!). It had been a wonderful weekend, and just what we needed to combat the homesickness we’d been feeling. We were so thankful that God "just happened" to place our son an hour or so away from the only 2 people we knew in the entire country of Ukraine. Even in the small stuff, God is always there. How awesome He is!

Nov 17: Celebrating a birthday half-way around the world

11/17/07: I (Jennifer) have never celebrated my birthday in another country before – likely due to the fact that this was only my second time to ever even travel outside of the U.S.! So this was definitely a birthday like no other.


We were staying with our missionary friends for the weekend, in Berdyansk. We had breakfast and then all went down to the Sea of Azov. We walked around and took some pictures. Then Maya (their older daughter) had gymnastics. So we dropped her and Heather off, and Jonathan toured us all around the town.






We saw the beach, some churches, and a water park, among other things. A really bad storm had passed through the prior weekend (remember me talking about the window flying out of our building?) and had caused pretty major damage all over Berdyansk, and we saw a lot of people trying to clean up and recover.

Then we went downtown and walked around the markets. We met a few people from Jonathan’s church and enjoyed more of the sights and sounds of everyday life in Ukraine.

We went back to pick up Maya and Heather, and then headed to the Potato House for lunch. Note: if you are ever in Ukraine and you see a Potato House restaurant, you must try it. Their burritos and salads were awesome!


We went back to their house and hung out for the afternoon. Then Heather made homemade pizza for dinner. After that, they surprised me with a birthday cake and gifts: a birthday mug and a children’s Russian/English picture dictionary.

All in all, it was a great birthday, one I won’t likely forget any time soon!

11/17/08: While last year was a fun and memorable birthday, this one is even more so because I have my boy with me this year! He and Zack started the celebration last night by giving me my gifts early. William gave me a beautiful pair of earrings – picked them out all by himself! And Zack got me a subscription to XM radio – awesome! The best gift of all is knowing that I get to go home this afternoon and spend the rest of the day with my two favorite fellas!