Monday, April 27, 2009

More Pictures....





On Daddy's shoulders for the second time!!















This was our last official visit...we picked him up the next morning and drove back to Kiev to finish paperwork!









After a few days in Texas....he looks like a new little man...











The "complimentary" razors and toothbrushes we found in the bathroom of our apartment in Zaparozhzhia.








Me with a couple of waitresses at The Proletariat restaurant...if you are ever in Zaparozhzhia, this is the place to visit!






Trying on Daddy's shoes is always a fun idea....

Thursday, April 23, 2009

THURSDAY APRIL 23RD!!!!

LONG story short....

We arrived home today around 2:00pm. We were met at the airport by Lisa's father armed with a video camera! Once we figure out how, we will post some video....

It is currently 9:45pm Central time.....Nicholas went to sleep for the first as a citizen of the United States several hours ago....we think he will sleep until tomorrow...we hope....but hey what do we know??? LOL

More stories to come...we plan on keeping the blog going since our adventures have just begun!

Goodnight!

Richard, Lisa and Nicholas

Friday, April 17, 2009

Friday April 17, 2009 Monday through Thursday!



A Recap of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
I hope you enjoyed the pictures we posted. There will be more photos later…
I would now like to describe our adventures from Monday.
Natasha had been talking about our court appearance since we first arrived in Ukraine. She told us to read our dossier over and over. The judge would have a copy of our dossier and could ask questions based on any part of it, so we needed to be prepared.
A few days before we even knew about our court date Natasha wrote out a speech that I would need to read in front of the judge. It stated we were citizens of the United States and were here to be named the parents of Nicholi. It also said we wanted to change his name, but not his birth date or birthplace and gave a list his medical diagnosis. Luckily I did not have to memorize it! I had it written on a small note pad that I could read from in court. Lisa got off even easier. When the Judge asked her the same question she could answer, “I support my husband’s statement.”
The Court house is located very close to the Children’s home, so we have driven past it numerous times. From the outside the building did not look like a traditional court house…if we were not told it was, we never would have guessed it! I did not take any pictures inside…I plan to take a picture from the outside.
Our appointment was a 2:00 pm but we were told it could be earlier or later depending on how the previous cases were going…just like at home! We arrived around 1:35 and waited outside the courtroom. Around 1:45 we were allowed into the court room. It was not very big…there were three rows of benches, a small “holding cell” to the left, a witness stand, a couple of desks and of course the Judge’s large desk. While we were waiting for the Judge to come in Natasha was telling us all of the possible questions the Judge may ask….also during this time a lady came in the far door of the court room and placeda chair on either side of the Judge’s chair. These were for two local citizens. In the cases of adoption two citizens are invited to the proceedings and are allowed to ask questions to the perspective parents. There is also someone from the Inspector’s office representing the child, a court secretary who records the proceeding sand a prosecutor representing the government of Ukraine. The Inspector’s representative was the first person to enter the room and sit at the desk to the right of the judge. Natasha spoke with her and found the Judge was in an “excellent mood.”
As we continued to wait, Natasha kept remembering more and more possible questions that could come up….this was making me more and more nervous. I had felt a little queasy since Sunday night….I knew I was stressing over the court appearance…….and now here we were in the court room waiting and waiting for the Judge.
Around 2:39 and 19 seconds he entered the room, along with the secretary and the two citizen representatives….no prosecutor…so far so good. The moment he entered, the three of us stood up and waited for him to tell us to be seated.
The Judge was a very kind looking gentleman with a round face, salt a pepper hair and mustache…we think he was in his late 50’s.
He began by introducing himself and explaining why were here on this day. As he spoke in Ukraine, Natasha, who was standing next to me and to the left of both Lisa and I, translated everything to English. We quickly learned to keep eye contact with the Judge while slightly tipping our heads to the left to hear the translation.
The Judge began reading our court documents….the same documents that Natasha had already shared with us, so we were very familiar with what he was saying. While were listening I was waiting to hear my name. Natasha had told us he would state my name before he asked me a question. We were expecting him to ask why we were there so I could deliver my well rehearsed speech. After about five minutes or so he finally addressed me and both Natasha and I stood up. He then asked me to state my name, birthdate and birthplace. He was trying to repeat “Canoga Park, California” but kept pronouncing the ‘G’ as an ‘H’….. he then asked me if Canoga Park was a town or a village. I told him it was a city. He then asked the approximate population of Canoga Park….I panicked and said 200,000.…is that even close? Somebody check that out for me please! He asked if both my parents were still alive and if I had any siblings, nieces and nephews. He said I had a very large family! He then asked me a question I did not quite understand, but tried to answer anyway….my answer must have worked since he moved on! I will check the transcript later to read what happened! He then asked if I was ready to take the responsibility of raising Nicholas and make them mine. Lastly he said that what we were doing was the work of a Saint, since we were opening our home to a child in need of so much. Then he said I could be seated and asked Lisa to stand. Lisa was asked to state her name, birthdate and birthplace. He asked if Richardson, Texas was a beautiful place, to which she said “yes.” He next asked if she, “had a special feeling in your heart whenever you were in the place you were born?” Lisa told him that the hospital was no longer there, but she was very proud to be from Texas! Next she was asked if she had nieces or nephews. She said that she currently had the 4 nieces and 4 nephews by marrying me but would have another niece the next day (April 14th) since here sister-in-law Sabrina was going to give birth. The Judge said, “Zapta?” Which means “Tomorrow?” And Lisa then explained it was a C-section. The Judge then immediately said that he hoped all went well. (Sabrina and Andy did have their little girl on the 14th of April…all are doing well) He then told Lisa she was also doing the work of a Saint for becoming the mother of boy in need and asked her to sit down. Since no one else had any questions the Judge said he would excuse himself and render his verdict.
We were all surprised how quickly it went and the lack of questions. Natasha told us that you never know how these proceedings will go, but it is better to be prepared!
After about 18 minutes the Judge returned and we all stood up. He asked us to be seated and began to read his verdict.
Lisa and I were holding holds as the verdict was handed down…
He said we were to be named the parents of Nicholas Alexander Aronin. We were so happy…this was the news we had been waiting for!!
The first two people we saw when we came out of the court room were Natalie and David. Their court appearance was next….they both congratulated us on becoming parents. We wished them the best for their case and immediately went back to our car with Natasha. It was then we were told that our ten day wait had been waived! We could not believe it since everyone had been telling us this period is rarely waived. We still have no idea why it was waived but are very grateful it was since we could immediately start the process to get a new birth certificate and a passport for Nicholas. In fact we were so busy running around all over town with Natasha we were not able to make our afternoon visit to Nicholas…how ironic the day we were named his parents we had to miss our regular afternoon visit.
We would also have to miss our Tuesday morning visit since we had to again go all over town…We did get to see him for a little while in the morning since we had to take him to the passport office to get his Ukraine passport photo taken. Since our current driver’s car is so small we had to split up. We had to get Nicholas, one of his Nanny’s, Natasha, Lisa and I to the passport office. On the way to a different office Natasha told us that our regular driver, whose car we were currently in, had to leave for a while and we would have to take a different car and driver to get Nicholas. Just then, another car pulled up and parked in front of us. Lisa and I got out of car number one and got into car number two. The stereo was on very loud, the inside temperature was very warm, he had leopard print seat covers, the handles used to roll up and down the windows in the back seat were both missing, his rear view mirror was missing, there were three toy cars glued to his dashboard (two red Ferrari’s and a red Formula One car,,,,not a good sign), he had nearly no gas and he looked exactly like Dirk Nowitski but a foot and half shorter…..we first drove to a gas station where he purchased enough gas to move the needle on his gas tank from below ’E’ to just a hair above a quarter tank. When then went to another office where both Lisa and Natasha got out, They were going to get the new birth certificate and then go to a tax office via Taxi Cab. I was supposed to be going to the Children’s Home to pick up Nicholas and a Nanny and then all of us were going to the Passport office to meet up with Natasha and Lisa. When the driver got the front of the Children’s home he stopped and parked outside….I tried to tell him I needed to go inside to get Nicholas, but he motioned for me to stay in the car….so I did…after about 5 minutes Natasha thankfully called to see how I was progressing. When I told her the driver would not let me get out of the car she asked to speak with him….she then told him I needed to go inside and get the child and the Nanny so he could take us to the passport office…or so she thought…as soon as I got out of the car he promptly left! Natasha called back 45 seconds later and asked to speak with the driver again. I told her he was gone! She said she would call him directly and explain again. By them time I came back downstairs with Nicholas and the Nanny, the driver was back and off we went!
The Passport office was very small inside. We arrived about 15 minutes before Lisa and Natasha. The Nanny and I did our best to keep Nicholas entertained. He walked up and down the narrow hallway and tried to go into every office. I told him that people were trying to work and did not have time for small visitors! When Lisa and Natasha arrived we had to wait an additional 15 minutes before we were allowed into the office to get his picture taken. After 5 tries they were finally able to get a good enough shot. After that we had the Taxi Cab take Nicholas and the Nanny back to the Children’s home and the three of us got back into Dirk’s ride and continued our running around. We did manage to get to the Internet Café to post some pictures and then ended our day with our regular afternoon visit….we all slept well Tuesday night.
Wednesday started off with our regular morning visit…afterwards we went clothes shopping. We were told by Natasha that the day we get to take Nicholas from the Children’s Home we will have to provide all new clothing. Once we were done shopping we went to buy some more souvenirs, went to lunch and then went back to the apartment for the rest of the evening.

Thursday…April 16, 2009
Today we only saw Nicholas in the morning, since we had plans in the afternoon after going to lunch.
After lunch it was off to “The Island.” This is the area where the Cossacks first arrived and settled in the Zaporizhzhia area. The Cossacks have a long and rich history here. We were able to explore a small portion of the island, visit a museum and see part of a live performance featuring whip tricks and trick horse riding. We will post the photos soon.
We hope to post again soon with some news about when we get to come home!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Hello, my name is Nicholas Alexander Aronin



During our very first visit...
The sore on his lip is cut from a day or two earlier.
It is nearly gone now...the cut, not his lip....






This is his, "So what did you bring for me to eat?" look...









Bundled up in true Children's Home fashion...although we have been doing a lot of walking with him, he does enjoy an ocassional push in a stroller...but who wouldn't??















Did I mention he really likes to have his picture taken?? This is one of my favorite pictures so far...








He loves to slide down the slide and into "Mama's" arms.











Nicholas loves cars and all things with wheels...the kids here call all cars "masheenas." He was really enjoying himself about two seconds before this picture as taken...


After 'somebody' squeeze his juice box and got apple juice all over his small blue jacket...we decided to us the sippy cups we brought from home. They require a lot more work, but have a much smaller 'messy factor.'

Monday, April 13, 2009

GOTCHA!!

Hello Everyone...

We had our court appearance today, Monday April 13, 2009 and were officially named the parents of Nicholas Alexander Aronin. We were also blessed enough to get the 10 day holding period waived. If the 10 day hold was not waived could not have done any more paperwork until this time expired....since it was waived we can now proceed with getting the required documents, such has his passport and medical clearances. Once we get his passport we can go back to Kiev and go to the U.S. Embassy for his travel visa!!

So..to sum things up...we became parents today and the sooner we get all the required documents the sooner we can come home!!!

Unfortunately we are not able to post any pictures today since the Interent Cafe is very busy and we were unable to plug in our own computer which has the photos on it...we will hopefully be able to post some pictures tomorrow....

Please keep the positive vibes and prayers coming towards Ukraine for our quick and safe travels home!

Love ya!
Richard, Lisa & Nicholas

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter! April 12, 2009

Sunday April 12th Happy Easter to everyone!

It is currently Saturday night around 22:00 (10 pm) and 8 degrees Celsius or 46.4 degrees Fahrenheit. After today’s second visit we decided to go straight to the market and then home…no internet café today. I will post twice on Sunday. Today is Easter Sunday in the U.S. Ukraine does not celebrate Easter until next Sunday.
Our translator Natasha will be returning to Zaporizhzhia tonight. She called Friday night and told us she would be back late Sunday night….Now we can find out what Nicholas has been trying to tell us the past couple of days!
Yesterday (Saturday) Lisa and I went to lunch after our morning visit with Natalie and David from Michigan. They are the super nice couple I mentioned in the previous post. We had a great time trading stories and experiences and getting to know each other a little better. After lunch we all went to a nearby outdoor market and did some shopping. We were all able to find some clothes for our boys. We bought some shirts, socks, shoes, a pair of overalls and a hat for Nicholas. We discovered the shoes were too big, but better too big than too small…he will fit into them soon. When we were done shopping we all went back to their apartment. They are staying very close to the children’s home…about a two minute walk! We on the other hand are staying about 15 minutes away and must be transported at high velocity twice a day by Speed Racer.
David and Natalie are staying in the apartment of a lady who is staying with family for the time being. She has two children that are currently living in the U.S., so she knows some English. The only rule they have to follow is that everyone must remove their shoes as they enter the apartment. It was very nice inside and all the photos and decorations really made it feel like a home. Natalie also told us a story that shed a lot of light on the way the kids are dressed at the Children’s home. Soon after arriving Natalie sniffled! Once their land lady heard that she immediately went around the apartment and closed all the windows and told Natalie she needed to wear a sweater and slippers. She then went on to explain that “drafts” are what cause people to get sick. This explains why all the kids are kept bundled up at all times when they are outside. I think it also explains why the cars and trains and buildings are kept so warm. Did I mention our current apartment recently turned off the central heat?? We have been raiding all the blankets in the house…we currently are sleeping with 13 blankets!!

We had our favorite meal for dinner….Ham and Chicken sandwiches with cheese, a bag of potato chips, bottled water and a coke!
“That sounds like a delicious dinner…but what do you two usually have for lunch?”
That’s a great question regular follower of the Blog….
We usually have two cups of instant soup and some bread with peanut butter. We brought our own peanut butter straight from Texas!

We hope to stay in touch with Natalie and David and their son. It will fun to see how the boys are adjusting to their new lives in the U.S.

Saturday April 11, 2009

Friday…….4/10/09


After the morning visit we both walked across the street from our apartment and went to the mini-supermarket. We ended up spending 116 rph or $14.06 on some more supplies such as juice boxes, bananas, chocolate, bread, butter and spaghetti…you know, the essentials. We almost bought some spaghetti sauce but could not figure out which one would be the least hazardous to our health…we shall just have the spaghetti with butter as a side dish…come on over!!
Before we went into the store we decided to walk around outside to look at the small outdoor market area. I had walked around there twice before by myself and saw a variety of items for sale from a plate full of sardines to silk flowers. I also discovered a small family of puppies living in an abandoned vendor stand. The second time I saw them I saw one of them eating ‘some kind of rodent.’ Before leaving the apartment I cut up some left over sausages that we had purchased a couple of days ago…when no one was looking I quickly gave them the sausages…I took a picture of two of them playing….I will post it soon. We have seen so many stray puppies and kitties…we wish we could take them all home with us along with Nicholas…
As we were returning to our apartment our cell phone rang. I answered and the voice on the other end said, “HI, this is Natalie from Michigan!” And guess what? It was one of our new friends. David and Natalie are one of the two other couples from the U.S They are also adopting a little boy and he is in the same group as Nicholas, so we have seen them nearly everyday. We also found out that Natalie graduated from Texas Tech (Get Your Guns Up) The other couple is from Virginia and they just had their court date and have decided to fly home during the ten day waiting period.
Anyhow….Natalie said she and David would like to have lunch or dinner with us on Saturday. When we saw them this afternoon we decided to make it lunch. She also mentioned a big outdoor market area we could walk to after lunch. Hopefully we will be able to find some souvenirs to remind us of Zaporizhzhia. It will be nice to spend some time with another couple going through the same adventures as us.


Now let’s turn back the clock a little bit….
The first day we arrived in Zaporizhzhia (Friday, April 3rd) was the also the first day we met Nicholas in person. Once we left the Children’s Home we all went to dinner. Natasha, Svetlana and Aleks wanted to let us try some authentic Russian food. We went to restaurant that was decorated with many items from the Soviet Union days. We took some pictures and will post them soon! When we asked the name of the restaurant our translator had a difficult time finding the English equivalent. After a few moments she came up with two possible names: 1. The Proletariat 2. The Bolshevik
Regardless of the name, the food was excellent.
We were able to read the menu since they gave us an English version. We then told Natasha what we wanted and she ordered for us. We learned early on that when you order a meal in a restaurant you must order everything at once…everything…drinks, appetizers, salads, entrees, side dishes and dessert! Not sure why it is done this way, it just is. :-) Also every item is separate so you have to literally create your own meal. If you order a steak, that’s all you’ll get….it’s not like home where it would come with a salad and baked potato. You must order everything you want to eat….then when the bill arrives it is about a foot and half long!
We had a salad as an appetizer…by the way…a salad here does not mean lettuce with stuff on top of it, but rather all the stuff without the lettuce! We had a salad that consisted of two kinds of tomatoes, large pieces of mozzarella and a light pesto sauce…it was very tasty…very fresh tasting tomatoes. Lisa then had Chicken Kiev (one of her favorite dishes) along with some baked potatoes with mushrooms. I had a pork shish kabob and some roasted potatoes. I was also able to try some of Natasha’s entrée which was breaded chicken stuffed with apricots with a cherry sauce…
The meal was ochin harasho (very good!)
For dessert Lisa and I split a hot fudge sundae and the others had cake…I tasted one the cake. It was excellent. We plan on going back there once we get some good news so we can celebrate in style. (We also need to go back there so Natasha can have some more cake…she talked about it for several days)
More later! Richard and Lisa

Friday, April 10, 2009

Friday, April 10, 2009 MORE PHOTOS!!!


Near our last apartment in Kiev. The arch monument in the back is a "gift" from Russia. It is supposed to signify "Friendship." Our translator was unable to keep a straight face while telling us about it.












Juice Boxes ready to go for our daily visits a with Nicholas.















The Fidelity bull makes an appearance at a cafe near the Children's Home called "Rodeo Cafe." Excellent chicken soup there!









Going through Kremenchuk on the way to Zaporizhzhia...









My very own brand of high quality fruit juices! Can you say 'Retroactive Royalities' in Ukraine??











This is the car that picked up us at the airport, drove us all over Kiev, drove us to the train station and of course drove us to find Nicholas! It was a mere 6 hour car drive....MUCH better than going by train....








These are the puppies we discovered living in between the St. Andrew's Cathedral the SDA office in Kiev. When arrived early for our second appointment and fed them some bread....














This is the doorway into the SDA office in Kiev....
This is the office everyone must go to when adopting a child from Ukraine..







Lisa sporting her official Ukraine Dynamo hat...the local soccer team.....

Friday, April 10, 2009

This is Arnold......



Friday, April 10, 2009
Yesterday marked our 3rd week of being away from home. It seems like a lot longer!
It is 20:47 (8:47 pm) and we just spoke with our translator Natasha. She called from Kiev to check in on us. She wanted to know how we were doing and to make sure we were eating. She tells it is important for us to “eat well” so we will have enough strength for this process and also enough strength to lift our 35 pound son! As for our paperwork, she only said it had been “examined without any concerns.” She then said she was waiting for them to be signed and made no mention of when she would be coming back to our region. We will just keep to our schedule until we hear different…
Now let’s talk about Arnold.
Arnold is a GIANT dog that lives at the Children’s Home….by the way, did we mention the name of the home is “The Sun” ??? Outside the Director’s office is a giant collage of photo‘s of children who have been adopted. On the top, in Ukraine, it says “My mother and father found me in The Sun.”
Anyway……back to Arnold.
We think he is a Great Dane….he is ten years old and is having trouble with his back legs. He has a very loud bark you can hear inside or outside of the main building. We have seen him out with his caretaker twice now. The children can go near Arnold, but are not allowed to pet him…
Today toward the end of our 15:30 to 17:00 visit we saw Arnold and his caretaker. We were trying to get Nicholas to say, “DOG” but were unsuccessful. He did manage to say, “Woo-Woo,” which is always fun to hear. The caretaker then began speaking to Nicholas, but he would not answer. Then he began speaking to us in English! It was very basic and a little shaky but it was definitely English. He told us he was asking Nicholas what his name was, but he would not say. We told him it was Nicholi. Once he began using his name, Nicholas did begin to speak with the gentleman. He then asked us where we lived. As soon as I told him Dallas, TX he immediately asked me a question. “Is that where he was killed?” I assumed he meant JFK. As I said, “President Kennedy?” he said, “Martin Luther King.” Since he was holding a giant dog three feet away from our son, I decided not to correct him. We just politely said we had to bring Nicholas back inside…..another International Incident avoided!
During our morning playtime with Nicholas we discovered he knows how to play “Keep Away From Daddy.” While he was playing with two small toy cars we brought for him, he began to hand me one of them. When I went to take it from him he pulled has hand back away from my reach and laughed. He did this several times in a row and just laughed and laughed. Soon after that he allowed me to play with one of his cars. As I pushed the car along I began to make some “car noises.” When we gave him the cars again in the afternoon he began making his own “car noises.” He then went over to an abandoned 1959 Fiat and removed the carburetor using the straw from one his juice boxes and banana peel……not really….
During our lunch break I decided to take walk across the street to a small super market. I wanted to see what they had since it is a lot closer than the other market our driver has been taking us to when needed. I found everything we would need to continue to eat at the apartment instead of going out for meals, which saves us money so we can buy more souvenirs!

Lisa - Nicholas has also discovered that Mommy wears glasses, and it is HILARIOUS to pull them off of her face, try to put them on his face, then bend the living daylights out of them. Good thing I brought a spare pair, and also that they are really cheap glasses!!! He also knows that as soon as we take him outside, that it is snack time for him. He heads straight to his favorite big metal truck, and promptly sits down and starts to dig through the "magic bag" looking for food. The bag is one we got free in Kiev for buying quite a few souvineres (pardon the spelling mistakes) from a vendor who is a friend of our translators. It is the bag that we carry his snacks, juice boxes, stuffed cow, various toys and wipes in. You still can't give him total control of the food, because he wants to put it all in his mouth at once. Sometimes, if a piece of fruit is too big he will bite it in half, but then proceedes to put both halves in his mouth at once.
When we are driving through the city, we see lots of white Birch trees, very pretty, and I keep thinking of Mom and her prized decorative fireplace logs from when we were kids. These moved with us numerous times and you didn't touch them......EVER......they were for decoration only!!!
Our apartment is nice, but cold. The central heating has been turned off, and because of the way we face, we don't get any sunlight in. It is kind of like sleeping in Grandmas basement in Minneapolis, dark and cold. There is a heater up on the wall, but trying to combat the cold is a loosing battle, so I am glad I brought a sweater and thick socks. It is actually warmer outside some days.
Nicholas also has mastered the art of "If I don't sit still and laugh while they are taking off my outside clothes, maybe they will stay longer" Every day now when we drop him off in his room, he just thinks it is so funny to fight the process of getting from outside slothes to inside clothes. This involves taking off hat, scarf, coat, shoes, overalls and a shirt and then putting on inside shoes. The nannies now let us get his things in and out of his locker and dress and undress him. We still have over a diaper to them when we arrive so we have not done this yet (woo hoo!!!). Under all that list of outside clothes, he is wearing an undershirt, and overshirt and tights ....... yes thights. All the kids wear them and they come in various colors and patterns. When we were making a list of clothes we have to buy for him, our translator laughed and asked if we wanted to buy any tights to put on him for the trip home........we obviously said no!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Thursday, April 9, 2009

To save time I have been Pre-Blogging ( and apparently making up new words) in the evening using a word document...then all I have to do is cut and paste!




Yesterday (4-8-09) we got to see Nicholas for the two 90 minute blocks.
Since we first arrived the routine has been the same….
We go through the main entrance of his building, turn to the left , walk down a small hallway, through a small room with a few rows of auditorium style chairs, up two flights of stairs to the room his group is in and ring the door bell. The door opens and we say, “Nicholi.” The ‘Nanny’ who opened the door then yells to the back for someone to get Nicholi ready. This means a Nanny from the other room walks up to the front and asks us for “pampers.” Although we have been told he has begun ‘potty training’ they still insist on putting a fresh diaper on him before he goes outside. We were told to buy size 4+ since he weighs around 16 or 17 kilograms or about 35 or 36 pounds. They then let him walk down the short hallway to greet us….lately he will come right to us and hug one of us around the knees.…always smiling and happy. Since we are taking him outside the Nanny will then put on his shirt, jumper, winter coat, hat and his outside shoes. While they are dressing him they are talking to him in Ukraine and he is answering…we are not certain what is being said unless we have our translator with us….she was with us the first few times but lately we have been picking him up and dropping him off by ourselves.
Once he is dressed we are ready to go!
One of us will carry our backpack and bag of supplies and the other will hold his hand while we go down the two flights of steps. We try to let him walk as much as possible, even though we know his shoes are not the proper size. We recently, on the advice of our translator, traced both of his feet on a piece of paper. We will soon go to a shoe store and purchase some new shoes based on the precise drawings we did….LOL….our translator said this is the best way to get a better fitting shoe for the trip back to Kiev since we cannot bring him to a shoe store.
We then go outside and find a place to sit…usually a picnic style table or a big iron truck (pictures will be provided soon) and have a snack. We give him a juice box, a banana or an apple and a couple of crackers. Once he has finished and we have cleaned his hands and face it is time to play! We walk around, look for cats, (there are several cats around…he calls them Kooshka) climb on various jungle gym structures, slide up and down the slide and just enjoy the outdoors. We also see the other kids from his group, usually about six of them with one Nanny walking around and playing.
(Back to the cats….a lot of the kids have been told that dogs like to scare cats so when they see a Kooshka they like to say, “Woo-Woo,” which of course is their version of Woof-Woof. When we first heard this we thought “this is what he thinks a cat sounds like?” and became very concerned….LOL….once our translator explained it we thought it was cute……and we still do…We are trying to get him to say, “Meow Meow” when he sees a Kooshka.)
Well yesterday was a little different….
When we went to pick Nicholas up he was only wearing a t-shirt, thermal tights and his indoor sandals. Since none of the Nanny’s were helping him get on his outdoor clothes we went to his locker and began to dress him. We helped put on his long sleeve shirt, jumper, hat, jacket and outdoor shoes. Once he was dressed we said good bye to the Nanny and took him outside. I guess they figured we needed to practice?? J
When we brought him back we began taking off his outdoor clothes. When it came time to take off his outdoor shoes we had him sit down on the blue bench in front of his locker (this bench is about 4 inches off the ground…a long way down for grown-ups) While Lisa was helping take off his shoes a Nanny swooped in and told her…”NO Mama!” She then told Nicholas in Ukraine, that he need to take off his own shoes. He first had to pull one of the laces to untie the shoe. The Nanny showed him which one to pull and waited for him to do it himself. Once he untied it Lisa again began to help him take off his shoe to which the Nanny again said, “NO Mama!” The Nanny went on to explain (we think) that he needed to do this by himself. After a few minutes he was able to take off his outdoor shoes and get into his sandals.
We then said our good-byes and went ‘home’ for lunch and a rest.
We came back at 3:30 for our afternoon visit, which went well.
When we brought him back at 5pm we watched the Nanny swiftly change his clothes and watched him take off his shoes and get into his sandals.
A few days ago our translator explained to us that the children in these homes must be taught early to be independent. They are taught to feed themselves, dress and undress very early. The children who do not get adopted are sent to boarding schools where they “get no special treatment and must learn to survive on their own.” The Nanny’s are doing their best to prepare them for what lies ahead.
As we were saying our good-byes for the day one of the Nanny’s informed us that we needed to bring size 5 pampers the next day! This meant two things….1. He is a growing boy and 2. We had to stop at the market on the way home!


MORE ABOUT OUR CURRENT DRIVER
I forgot to mention that our driver is very “connected.” He has two cell phones, (one in a dash mounted cell phone holder and one in a holder that he wears around his left bicep, a Bluetooth headset, a mini HP notebook computer mounted on his dash board with a wireless card and a USB port in the center section to play MP3’s. The first day or so he showed us how he could pull up the Yahoo home page on his computer while we were in traffic. He also showed us he had SKYPE (sp?) loaded as well.
Today he told us he as been a driver for 22 years. He has been all over Ukraine and even spent 3 years in Moscow. He also showed us a picture of his daughter…she looks about 14 or 15 years old, but we could not ask due to the language thingy.. Our translator gave him our schedule so we can continue our daily visits each day while we are on our own. Our current “driver schedule” is the following:
Pick us up and take us to the children’s home: 09:45 am
Take us from the children’s home back home: 11:30 am
Pick us up and take us to the children’s home: 15:15 pm
Pick us up and take us to Internet Café: 17:00 pm
Pick us up from Internet and take us home: 18:30 pm
Did I mention everyone uses military time? Just remember if the first number is a ZERO, it is AM. If the first number is 13 thru 23 it is PM and you need to subtract 12. i.e. 15:15 would be 3:15 pm! (**Bonus info…Midnight would be 00:00)





The Inspector's Office here in Zaporizhzhya. All of our paperwork starts here in this region, goes back to Kiev, comes back to the Inspector and then it gets submitted to the court....You got that?

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Wednesday April 8, 2009

More about April 6th....the day we said "YES!."

The day we agreed to make Nicholas our son we were walking with him outside and began to hear some instruments playing musical scales…At first I heard a tuba, then a clarinet and then a flute. I asked our translator if there was going to be a concert or if someone was just practicing. She said she was not sure, but the building next door was a home for older people. A few moments later we heard an entire band playing and saw many older folks outside on their balconies listening. It was wonderful to hear some live music. I tried to get Nicholas to dance, but due to his thick hat (which must be worn at all times while outside….house rules) I do not think he was able to hear enough of the music.
I did not recognize any of the first few songs…but then they began to play Moonlight Serenade by Glen Miller…I could not help thinking this was some sort of sign. On the day I agreed to become a father, a live band just happened to be playing a song by MY father’s favorite musical artist Glen Miller….coincidence?? I don’t think so!
In the afternoon we went to lunch at a café very close to the Children’s Home. Our translator dropped us off at the café and continued on to begin our paperwork as quickly as possible! We had been to this café before…as soon as we were seated I pointed to the menu and asked if we could get one in English…well, guess what….SOMEHOW she knew were “Amyerikanskiy.” The menu she brought was in English and Ukraine. This made it easy to order! We both had a bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup. The soup was the second best I have ever had…my Grandmother’s is still number one! We are trying to get some authentic Ukraine recipes so we can cook them when we get home. We also had some baked chicken and two potato dishes. Lisa had potatoes with cheese, tomatoes and mushrooms and I had something called “French Fries.” (Hey I’m on vacation!) As for the fries, my mother would have loved them since there were all quite crispy. I held one up and sent one to her back in Woodland Hills, CA….I hope she got it.
We also exchanged email and blog addresses with one of the other couple from America. They are adopting a little boy from the same group as Nicolas. We see them everyday.
Right now our schedule each day is to arrive at the Children's home at 10:00 am. We take Nicholas outside for 90 minutes. During this time we walk around, play on the playgrounds and of course feed him....we have been told that is favorite food is everything. Today we fed him two small containers of yogurt, a banana, an apple, two juice boxes and three cookies! This was during both visits. We have to bring him back inside at 11:30 am. We then go back to our apartment to have lunch and hang out. We go back to the home at 3:30 pm and get to be with Nicholas until 5pm. The time really goes by fast each day and we keep telling that someday he won't have to go back inside, someday soon he will get to go to Kiev with his parents to get his passport and his travel visa! Once he has both of those things, we will be able to schedule our flights back to TX!! Yeeehaaa.....


BONUS INFO:

Our driver here seems to by a nice enough fellow...but he also seems to have the need....the need for speeeeeed.. Although we are paying by the mile while he is driving us around, he seems to feel that the faster we get there the better. By now I can almost anticipate his "moves" so I know which way to lean or if I need to brace myself for a quick stop or quick accelaration. He loves passing other cars too.... The best way to describe our travels each day by car would be some sort of combination of the Disneyland rides: Indiana Jones and Star Tours.....then add people of all ages attempting to cross the street, giant buses built in 1951 packed with people, cars (some very old and slow and some newer and very fast) all around you and sprinkle a healthy does of major pot holes that most drivers, including ours, are constantly trying to avoid by swerving back and forth! Maybe I should contact Lisa's brother about a new video game idea.... "Da Streets of Ukraine"

Lastly....they do actually have traffic signals here, but like most things here, they are slightly different.......

Green means GO
Flashing Green means STOP because the light is about to change to RED
Red means STOP
Flashing Yellow below a Red light means GO because the Red light is about to change to Green

Cars have the right of way 93% of the time........Pedestrians 6.99% of the time....Animals .01% of the time.

More later!
Love Richard and Lisa

Monday, April 6, 2009

Monday April 6, 2009 IT'S A BOY!

Prvyet (Hello) Everyone!

Well, we officially started the paperwork today to adopt Nicholi Alexander.......Nicholas Alexander is what his new birth certificate will hopefully read. Nothing is final until the judge declares us his parents, so keep the prayers and good thoughts coming.

He is 3 years 4 months old, and is a very sweet, active, happy and curious little boy. His favorite toys are anything with wheels and a dumptruck with a string so he can pull it around. We also think he is ready to get on a tricycle.

If everything goes as planned, we will need to "de-girl" his room and get some trucks in there!!!

We went and got a passport picture taken of him today, and then went to a notary office, the inspectors office and lawyers office. On a fun note, while we were in the lawyers office, our translator had to go the bank and pay a fee, and yes, she left us in the office with the lawyer who naturally spoke no english!! Very quiet in that office.

We will hopefully have more to write soon, as well as more time. The days are now filled with visiting Nicholi and lots of paperwork.

Talk to you soon and we miss you all.

Love to you all,
Richard and Lisa

p.s. - Lisa is going to go back and add some comments to previous entries, so be on the lookout!

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sunday, April 5th

Hello Everyone!

Well, our facilitator and driver left last night, so we are now down to just 3 of us in our spacious 3 bedroom/4 bed apartment.

We are sleeping on a pullout bed that is slightly more comfortable than the last one, but still feels a little like sleeping on a cement floor.

We are going to attempt to do laundry again today, and we are even going to use the washer that is in the bathroom. I know, it really doesn't belong in there, but when you consider that the toilet is in another room next door, then you can see that there is plenty of room for a washer that is the size of a dorm room fridge......wish us luck and good laundry. The room the toilet is in, by the way, is as wide as a broom closet, and has a toilet, a mirror on the door facing said toilet (I know.... not a good spot for a mirror) and a sink that you can easily use while on said toilet!!!! (so many bad mental pictures, sorry)

We have been going to the local grocery store for supplies and snacks to take to Nicholi......you have never seen a child eat an entire apple (yes, core and all) so fast. We think he polished it off in about 7 mintues. He is definitely a healthy eater and the nannies say "yes, he eats everything"

Anyone want us to bring them back some crab or squid flavored potato chips? Or perhaps some pomagranite-blueberry gum? The chewing gum here is thicker than ours......kind of like a thin eraser. The chocolate is good here, I have only just begun to sample the selection. (yes this is Lisa typing this time) Our translator has a sweet tooth and so she keeps telling me which ones are good and which are not good.

On a last note, we watched "Ice Skating with the Stars" last night......very interesting program (but not as interesting as "Are you smarter than a Blonde...ask me about that one!). I know I owe you all a TV entry.....still working on it.

It is warmer today....about 64.......but they still bundle up the children in winter coats, hats and scarves. If you have seen the movie "A Christmas Story" you can picture it by remembering the scene with the little brother and the snowsuit. They can barely walk or bend their arms. And the smaller they are, the more bundeled up they are. We saw a small baby that looked like an orange version of the Michelin Man. Very cute, but very hot.

Take care everyone and we will write more when we get a chance.

GO HUSKIES!!! That's for Steve!!!!

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Saturday April 4, 2009

We have now visited the boy two times and he is a very sweet, smart, happy and outgoing little boy. He has some minor issues when walking, but this can be worked on with physical therapy..

We have been in contact with our Doctor's in the U.S. and are consulting them by providing all of the medical background we have been shown.

During today's visit we met two other couples from the U.S.....one from Michigan and one from Virginia....we hope to exchange emails with them.

We are taking loads of pictures of the region and the child, but cannot post them yet.

The name of the region is Zaporizhzhya....find it on your maps for extra credit....

We drove here from Kiev...it took about 6 hours and we got to drive right through Kremenchuke (SP??)....that region should sound familiar to some of you...

We are staying in a 3 bedroom apartment with our Translator (Natasha), Facilitator (Svetlana) and our Driver (Aleks)......FYI....a 3 bedroom apartment does not mean 3 bedrooms.....it just means there are 3 sleeping surfaces in the apartment...fun fun fun...

More info later...

Love to you all
Richard and Lisa

Friday, April 3, 2009

April 3, 2009

Hello All...
We lost internet access Thursday...

Long story short...

We are currently in a new region visiting another child.

He is about 3 and half years old...yes...HE....

We will not have interent access in our apartment so the entries will slow down for a while..

More news later....

Lisa - The city we are now in is Zaparozhzhy (as close as I can get it without my translaters help). It is very pretty. They have alot of parks areas here and they are always full of people. Each day we see lots of people out pushing strollers around. Every day we are also seeing more signs that spring is here. The trees at the orphange are starting to bloom, and the flowers and trees everywhere are showing signs of life. So I am not missing spring, just seeing it on a different continent!

Richard and Lisa

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

More Photos.....







Lisa lounging in our spacious train compartment..














Richard showing how he can touch both walls at the sametime......unfortunately it was not possible to capture this in one photo since Lisa could not stand far enough away....did I mention this was not a large space??










This is our second apartment....we have been here since March 27th..... Notice the two bottles of water....both empty! We are such party animals... Also please notice our large 17 inch TV....The show is an identical version of a classic American comedy....any guesses??















The shower curtain in our new place is nearly 9 feet tall for some reason. This photo is trying to illustrate that point since I am 6 foot 2



















All our apartments have been "tastefully" decorated. This has been our favorite piece of artwork so far.....we have named her...."Crazy Chicken Pope Lady." She is located over the couch where she can watch over us as we sleep....
"Hey Richard and Lisa why are you sleeping on your couch instead of the bed?"
Good question....see below.....







On our first night...exhausted from 30 hours of train travel....I went to lay down in our bed and heard a noise. The noise sounded like the cracking of a wooden slat.....and that's exactly what it was..
This is what we saw when we lifted up the mattress. We tried sleeping on the bed but felt we would wake up the next morning on the floor and trapped in the bed frame!
Luckily the hard as granite couch opened up to a bed as hard as granite....we have been sleeping there every since....
Thank you Crazy Chicken Pope Lady!!




Reason number two for not sleeping in our bedroom? This creepy looking closet. It looks out of place as if it were built by "others." As you can see I was visibly shaken and unable to open the door for the photo. We cannot be certain but we feel this is some sort of doorway to a parallel universe or dimension. We think we shall be okay as long as we stay in the good graces of the Crazy Chicken Pope Lady...

Wednesday April 1st

The normal end of the business day here in Kiev is at 6:00pm. Today around 5:30pm we received a phone call from our Facilitator and our Translator. They asked if they could come over and speak with us since they were very close to our apartment....we of course accepted and then began to nervously discuss why they wanted to speak with us in person...

They arrived at about 5:39 and 27 seconds.

BTW our Translator is named Natasha and our Faciltator is named Svetlana.

Well...they told us that we were granted our next appointment.

We will be going back to the State Dept of Adoption (SDA) tomorrow morning at 9:00am!!


Earlier in the day I achieved a personal milestone. I was able to go out and purchase fresh bread all by myself! I have been able to purchase water and McDonald's since we have been here, but I was not sure about the bakery. The lines are more like mobs and when it is your turn you must 'be ready' or they will go to the next person.... I was able to use my size advantage to "box out" the other customers and then used the old POINTING method.
We can now survive indefinitely since I can now obtain, bread, water and McDonald's at anytime.

More later.......thanks for the continued support...

xxooxxoo
Richard and Lisa