NESTING - waiting for court filing

An Indian adoption update!  We are still waiting for word that the SAA filed our petition in court.  There was a holiday last week, which delayed it a bit.  Hoping it will be filed soon and we can get the hearings rolling.

Little Abha's birthday was last week, so we celebrated with some whoopie pies.  We took a video to show her later, froze a whoopie pie for her to eat when we bring her home, and signed a card that we sent to her orphanage.  Will she get it?  I hope!  We don't have a last name, so hopefully a card addressed "For Abha" will get to her.  Can't do anything but try, right?

pajama'd cuties

 We switched Gianna's room around and put Abha's bed in there.  The other kids already list Abha in the family litany and Gianna draws a fourth kid in her pictures.  We love her already!!!

We are collecting all kids of sizes of girl's clothes - now all we have to do is learn Marathi!

NOC!

We got our No Objection Certificate!  That means as soon as the SAA applies for the court, we can begin the court process!  This is a big step towards bringing Abha home!!!  Thanks everyone for continuing to pray as we inch closer and closer!

TRAVEL - the day we busted her out

An excerpt from what I sent to family about the day we took Gianna out of the orphanage:  

May 25, 2015.  One of the most unique days I've ever had. It started with waiting. A lot of waiting. Waiting for the call that Elena was in town and we would start the process to bust Gianna out. Adoption is not "hurry up and wait", it's "waaaaaaiiiit, then HURRY UP!" That's what happened. The afternoon was a blur of flurry scurry paperwork doing and gift buying and packing up. Poor Carrie and Drew had to pack up in 15 minutes when we discovered that Elena had to be at the court by 5.  So with all that done, we ended up at the orphanage at 6pm to pick Gianna up. I brought a new outfit for her, including underwear and shoes (which she was very excited about), and her new little backpack where she put all the remaining toys and things that we had left that we could find.  She was all smiles, definitely aware of what was going on.  She had said goodbye to her friends.  She was ready.  We gave a letter to the caregiver and the caregiver gave us a book with a handwritten note and a stack of the drawings that she had done while she lived there.  We then all piled in the van and went to supper. Other than everyone needing to go to the bathroom all at once it was really a good family time. That's also thanks to Drew and Carrie's help.  The kids played around in the park after the meal.  Kian was elated that his new sister is with us "forever now", and Logan seemed curiously interested.  Gianna was skeptically tolerant of her new brothers.  So with all that stress over, all that was left was to head to Odessa and get our room. All the kids did STELLAR on the 2 hour ride to Odessa. Everyone was calm and played a little. Gianna listened to new Masha her doll sing songs the ENTIRE way. I'm glad that thing has over 100 phrases (kinda cool) or else that would have been torture. As it was, it wasn't.  smile emoticon Then we got to the hotel and the stress started again. Gianna was an hour late for her medication, I had to go to the bathroom so badly it was crazy, and the driver needed to be paid, and we needed to check in. Carrie and Drew helped tremendously herding our little brood of cats and checking us in and helping us get our bags to our room and helping us find our room. Etc. Then the fun began. For a while we let Gianna explore her new environment.  Dialing the phone, jumping maniacally on the bed, flipping TV channels, eating, drinking, and being merry.  Then it got late and time to wind things down.  Gianna felt as though she was free and in Disney World and didn't understand that we shouldn't jump on the bed anymore - it's bedtime and she needed to get her jammies on and brush her teeth. No surprise after the (no doubt emotional roller coaster) day she had that she ended up mad at me, crawled under the bed and pretended to read the phone book. Not kidding. So then with some animated cheerful persuasion she came out, I showed her my little "bedtime routine" picture, and she got more on board. I don't know how many times we needed to redirect her from bouncing on the bed. She refused to listen to stories, and instead looked at the city lights off the balcony with her new papa.  Then she didn't want to get tucked in, and instead wanted to listen to her doll some more. So we listened to Masha say "esho, esho, esho" and sing Russian songs for quite a long time. Kian and Logan were so tired they passed out almost immediately in spite of Masha's serenading.  When I finally went to bed well after midnight, after posting on Facebook and soaking my feet a bit (processing the day), Gianna was still awake and rustling around. She shifted around for a little bit, laying on her pillow in 100 different ways. Then she said she had to go to the potty and I took her. Then she laid down beside me, I rubbed her back, held her hand and she was out LIKE A LIGHT. She slept well all night and woke up easily the next morning. So did the boys. Not too bad upon reflection. So ended day one of our new family!

Signing her out!

She looked so cute and small packing up her things.

All ready to go!

Listening to the new Masha doll all the way to Odessa.  Kian enamored with his new sister's presence.  Keeps asking "am I always going to have a sister now?"

Welcome to the family, Gianna!

TRAVEL - the 10 day waiting period

After our court date, we had 10 days to hang out in the town visiting Gianna.  It's a law in Ukraine that any court decree has a 10 day mandatory waiting period afterward during which anyone can appeal the decree.  Then after the 10 days it is final.  That time ENDS TOMORROW!!!  Tomorrow we will sign Gianna out of the orphanage forever and we will have a new daughter living with us!  Cue freak out!

During this period we have gone to the orphanage every day to visit Gianna.  7 of the 10 days we walked, the other days we took a car depending on the activities of the day.  It took about 40 minutes each way.  Most days we visited between 10-12 and one of the days we visited from 4-6.  Those are the orphanage visiting hours for people like us.  We have had sunshine and clear skies every single day and today looks no different.

These flowers are amazing.  They have little snails living on them, and no matter how wimpily you kick off the thistle heads, they always sail 10 feet into the air! :)  A fun walk activity.

One day the whole family walked together

We did various activities with Gianna, most of the time we made our rounds on the playground equipment, then went in the shade to color or draw or dig through mom's purse for lotion and coverup to play with.  The last few days I brought nail stickers and stuff and practiced braiding her hair.

Her favorite, the merry go round

practicing braids

nail stickers

The rest of the days, we tried to have a variety of activities to entertain the boys.  We tried to make each day a little different for our sake, too - to break the monotony a bit.

There are a few playgrounds close to the clinic.  Carrie and Drew took them to these often while we visited Gianna.  This ride was their favorite - it was pretty close to Cedar Point worthy.

This play place was also a favorite activity while we visited.  It was at a shopping center close to the orphanage.

One day we visited the orphanage together as a family. (they allowed us to do that one time)

We visited the Ackerman fortress one morning.

It was really fun climbing around on the stairways and walkways at the fortress.  Kian was delighted to see a "real castle"!

ice cream was a popular evening activity, of course.

Carrie helped him after it dropped on the ground for the 3rd time.  Breaking the parts off where it fell made it smaller and smaller and we were afraid he wasn't going to have any ice cream left to eat!

A few evening we had a taxi take us downtown to visit the restaurants and parks.  The parks have various activities, like riding around in RC cars...

playing on the statuary...

eating at the fine dining establishments...

...and saying hello to the gnome statues.

Another morning we visited the Black Sea.  It was a delightful time of dipping our toes in the ice cold water, eating ham and cheese and chips, and building sand castles.  The boys loved it and so did we.

So now our Bilgorod time is coming to a close.  I think we sufficiently filled our days with good family time, and now we are ready for Gianna to join us on the rest of the journey!  Pray that Gianna feels peace, and if she feels sad or scared that I am able to comfort her even though I don't speak the language.  Continue to follow as the story unfolds!

TRAVEL - Bilgorod

Day 1 completed, day 2 nearly so.  I'm starting to feel like I can do this!  Our visits have gone well and Gianna is eager to see us each day.  The walk to the orphanage is doable and it means we don't have to pay for a taxi - even though it's only a buck fifty. :)  The exercise does us good.

We are staying in the third floor of a Christian medical clinic.  They are like a multi-physician practice and the third floor is a series of hostel-like rooms.  There are community bathrooms, showers, and kitchen.  It's cheap and perfect for what we need.  There are enough larger common rooms for the kids to play and not be confined to one room as in a hotel.  There is another family staying here.  They are refugees from Donetsk in the conflict region.  They have been here for about a year now I believe.  The couple is very nice, and have a little girl Kian's age.  They were fast friends and have played well together.  There is an older boy and a little 9 month old dude and a grandma.  They are a warm and friendly presence.

Playing bubbles with Victoria and Victor

We have found out which groceries we like best, as well.  Everything is so cheap and fresh, we have sincerely been enjoying the food!

Our Ukraine groceries

TRAVEL - trip 2 begins

So the trip here was not the easiest thing I've ever had to do... There was never a time when I wanted to break down and sob, but I wasn't necessarily enjoying myself.  I had to remind myself that my child is NOT the first NOR the last to cry on an airplane!  Logan had such trouble staying confined to the seat.  We walked around some, but it's just not as nice as it seems when your kid is big and the aisles are small.  Never failed, every time we lifted off what when Logan decided he had to pee in the potty.  Kian did pretty well with the entertainment part, but he did not sleep at all which was rough.  My children, like many, get noisy and restless the tireder they get.  Like a stream of whiney nonsense-noise.  It's a lot of fun.  All that negativity aside, though and the trip was only 6/10 on a 1-10 scale of unbearableness.  And it's over, so that's a good thing!  :)  Carrie and Drew were wonderful to have along, they helped a lot.  We were afraid that some of the transport pieces were going to be difficult because we did not bring our car seats (they don't use them in Ukraine like we do in the States).  That was a non-issue, though, because we took a shuttle from the hotel to the airport, and then a bus from LaGuardia to JFK.  Then... we were in Ukraine and it quit mattering. :)  We were so so so so tired when we arrived in Belgorod after about 30 hours of travel, and the kids were beyond.  Logan had fallen into his third nap/trance and Kian was playing ADHD style to fight off his stupor.  They were in Carrie and Drew's quality care while we were taken on some paperwork tasks.  Then with those done, we were finally able to sleep off some of our jet lag.  I've never experienced my children falling asleep so fast as they did that night.  Supper and baths and books and BOOM asleep before we had the lights out.  Pretty similar for us.  We stayed up to do a few minor things to get ready for the court and then we were asleep the moment our heads hit the pillows.  This morning was court day!  I wish someone would have told me to write down some of our answers to the court questions, so we didn't have to start every question with "Um".  But with the help of our translator's briefing on what types of questions they would ask, it went pretty well.  The best part is, they concluded that we should be Gianna's parents!  We were granted permission to take her on a celebratory outing to eat and to the park.  Then we hung out at our hotel with her until we had to return her to the orphanage.  She was shy at first when we all were together (Kian and Logan included), but she warmed up to them over time.  She was so excited about the doll and necklace we gave her.  She colored a bunch while I did needlepoint and it was really sweet to see her so quiet and focused on a task.  She was also very excited when I showed her the clothes that I brought for her.  She wanted to try one of the outfits on and I was glad that it fit her.  After we returned her to the orphanage I made supper and we went on a short walk to the grocery store and Logan passed out soon after.  Kian followed soon after.  All in all a very full, exciting time so far!!!  Now starts the waiting.  In 11 days the court decree becomes final and we can sign her out of the orphanage.  We will be trying to find things to fill all 11 days and make them somewhat interesting, in between our visits with Gianna at the orphanage and to find things for the boys to occupy their days.  The adventure continues!!!

IN BETWEEN - Court

Well, since yesterday was a holiday, the SDA probably won't get to "approving" our court date until Monday, but our facilitator said to go ahead and book tickets.  She is fairly certain we'll get that date. :)  Now we just wrap things up here again and get ready to head out again!  We've been enjoying the fine weather and getting as much outside time as possible.

TRAVEL - Odessa and court date

We got a court date!  We figured we would be waiting a week, but our amazing facilitator/translator team is just really good at what they do. :)  I'm kidding, I don't know how much they had to do with it (I suspect at least some) but when they told us we have a court date yesterday already I was like, "You guys rock!"  So our court date is May 14.  We will be coming home on Monday the 27th and going back by middle of May.  We toured Odessa today and, my, what a beautiful city!  I say!  It put me in an old-timey phrase kind of mood.  Dear me, that opera house was grandiose!  Heavens to Betsy did you see those grey army ships?  Well my stars, they were just the bee's knees!  I feel old amongst all these trendy, hip 14 yr olds and rhinestone-studded flats-wearing affluent youths.  Well, I better hit the hay.  My knees are done wore out from all that walking.