We've got her!

On March 2 we had our "handing-over" ceremony after resting the night before in Ratnagiri.  Almost as soon as we pulled the car up to the orphanage they were already standing there with Abha!  I didn't know what to do at first but didn't want to run up to her and scare her, so I said Hi and then we followed them to the office of the building.  While there, I talked to her a little while she stared at me.  I sat her on my lap and she smiled a lot of shy smiles. :) We finished up our paperwork and then the orphanage put on a little "ceremony" where they take lots of pictures and we give speeches and they give us roses and hand all the kids the treats that we brought.  Everyone seemed to be happy and Abha wasn't crying or anything. :)  The caregivers were so so so good to give us honest answers to our many, many questions.  Then we went to our hotel and got some giggles from Abha as we played with bubbles and crayons and the orphanage toys.  We traveled the next day to Mumbai and it was a rough ride for Abha as she was very carsick.  We got through it ok, though, and caught our flight yesterday to Delhi.  There we met Marie and she graciously took us shopping for some essentials we had been needing.  This included new shoes for Abha which she loves to take on and off and on and off and on and off.  We are getting to know our little girl who is very scared and shy when we go out and about, and when we are in a hotel room she lets her naughty out!!!  She runs around and tries to find all sorts of stuff to get into!  She laughs hysterically when Dad does silly stuff.  Now, some pictures. :)

With Daddy enjoying a lollypop

With Alex our facilitator

Saying goodbye to the social workers and caretakers

The lovely sign at the "hand-over" ceremony

Trying on some new clothes

Hmmm... not bad :)

We're in India!

We made it to Ratnagiri!  We got all the kids to their respective places and said our goodbyes, then at abour 2pm we left for Pittsburgh.  First flight went well to Atlanta.  Then had a perfect little layover in Atlanta to get where we needed to be to fly to London Heathrow.  The London flight was sparse so for the 8-9 hr flight Zack and I got to take turns laying down on the extra seats and sleep.  Our layover in London was a little longer but didn't seem too bad since we had time to sit and enjoy a nice Lebanese meal.  The flight to Mumbai was very, very full.  I tried to sleep, like, 6 times but couldn't so I watched a few Bollywood movies which were over 2 hours each.  That killed time.  But then when I still couldn't sleep I watched another one.  After 9 hours of constant cheap headphone use I thought I was going to get a pressure ulcer on my ears.  I didn't.  Don't worry.  I survived.  When we got to Mumbai we got through customs and immigration ok with only one tiny snafu with Zack's passport which we just had to wait on them verifying.  We met Alex with no problems and immediately started our journey to Ratnagiri.  It was 10 1/2 hours of catnaps and taking in the Indian city and countryside.  42 hours of travel total to get an hour away from her orphanage.  What a place.  A lot to absorb.  No wonder India fascinates so many, it is just so rich and dense in cultural uniqueness.
Tomorrow is the big day!  We are getting ready to add our fourth child tomorrow, little Abha!  We will have our celebration at the orphanage tomorrow and spend as much time as we can there asking our questions and saying our hellos and goodbyes.  Expect pictures tomorrow upon your awakening!!!

TRAVEL - finishing up

Lots of paperwork fury happened after we got her out of the orphanage.  Then we waited in Odessa a few days and headed to Kiev to wait for her passport to arrive.  We did several appointments and paperwork before the passport came, just couldn't pick the results up until it came.  Also waited to finish at the embassy for the passport.  Nail-biting later, I'm glad we did that, because the passport was a few days later than expected.  Then we had to run like crazy to finish things up and fly out that weekend.  It was crazy, and there were lots of twists and turns in the road.  One near disaster after another, and we landed back at home all together!!!  We were crunching up to deadlines and praying A LOT.  The trip home was better than I expected, but still long and arduous.  None of it seemed to matter, though, when we were finally in our own beds tucking our children in.  All worth it!  We came home almost a week ago tomorrow.  Here's how the rest of the trip looked:

shopping together in the streets of Kiev

See that tiny door by Zack's head?  That's the SDA.  Where all Ukrainian adoptions go.  wild.

First morning as a family.

Going wild in Odessa!

exploring the Delphinarium in Odessa.

Papa.

Getting to know each other.  Very well.  In one room.  The majority of the time.  Help.

Try telling her not to drink the water.  I dare you.

Getting to be a pro on the swing!

Our delightful bunch of kiddos.

Grass!  Running free in the grass outside of the embassy.  Waiting to go in for our visa.

This is the life!

"I'm going to my new home!!!"

Yep.  I used a tablet.  Not apologizing.

Goodbye Ukraine!

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 - restaurants

A note to Ukrainian restaurants:

1. Americans are ok to have in your establishment.  Even though we are loud, we tip well if told that tipping is accepted in Ukraine, and while in "vacation mode".

2.  An English menu pretty much guarantees that we will visit more than once.  Even if translated poorly.

3.  You don't have to go get the English speaking person who doesn't know all that much English anyway.  If you just talk to us and make enough gestures, we'll get the drift.  Or better yet, we don't have to talk at all.  I'll just point to things.

Mmmmmm, Ukrainian food

*gobble gobble gobble*

4.  Whatever you end up bringing, I'll eat it anyway.  Everything is super good, even if I don't recognize it.  I'm just happy that you didn't throw me out for not understanding you!

TRAVEL - laundry

Day 4.  Laundry day.

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 - Pink!

Pink is our little one's favorite color - so this crazy nesting mama went a little crazy.  Pink crazy.  She requested her room to be painted pink.  Pink it is!

She loves dolls.  The kids have a doll with one outfit, and I had some infant clothing that I loved and bought just in case we had a girl.  I have such trouble giving them up because they are so darn cute, so I decided to take a few favorites and refashion them for the doll I have.  I thought the results were pretty cute. :)

Before

Little pantlets after

After

Also, I went shopping.  There are so many cute hairbows at Sol's in Berlin and I went a little nuts.  Just a little nuts, cuz I want her to be able to choose her own when she returns.  So I consider it harrrdddly nuts, and mostly okay.

Oh yeah, there was a tutu also.  And the headband is from Save and Serve so it doesn't count. :)

There's tons of pink in my laundry basket! It's really cool and exciting!

We leave on Tuesday, and the next several days are simply packed with getting things ready.  Ready to go, and ready to come back. :)

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.

IN BETWEEN

Enjoying the sunshine today!

Went out and bought paint this morning - I hope it's "pink" enough for our girly girl.  She requested pink, and I bought one titled "Tinted Rosewood".  I think it will be lovely.  Our inspiration:

Writing thank you notes today.  Nothing like thank you notes to give you a sense of awe.  I'm just amazed at all the wonderful, supportive people that are joining us in this journey!  Thank you all, even if you didn't get a thank you card - we appreciate your prayers and support!

^Totally sums up how I feel today.

TRAVEL - back home for a bit!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh the joys of jet lag.  Zack got up at 4:30am and couldn't go back to sleep... so he went to work!  Not kidding.  I woke up about 5am all aflutter with the new "in between trip" to do list on my mind.  So I spent a good 2 hours before the boys woke up with minor papery things and starting to unpack.  The boys adjusted back to the home environment pretty good today.  I had to do a little more reviewing of the discipline strategies we had employed previously. :)  They had a blast at Grandma and Grandpas' houses and big thanks to them and Pat and Emily for helping with them while we were gone.  And our orange tree was expertly watered thanks to Patrick and Christine, and our mail held thanks to the USPS.  I'll keep you updated with how we are preparing to go back to get our little girl, and hopefully early the next trip I will be able to post pics on social media sites - including this one!!!!  Oh happy day.  If you're in the area and would like to see pics - just stop on by, I can show you a whole bunch.

I wonder what she's thinking about today?  I wonder if she's looking at the little book we made for her?  Stay strong little one!

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.

TRAVEL - back in region

We are back in the Odessa region.  We signed the book so that the paperwork could be transported to Kiev to be submitted to the SDA.  This is how we get our court date, which will probably be told to us next week.  Our next trip will probably be middle of May.  Then we will travel to do the tasks that get our little one adopted!  We will be visiting her tomorrow and the next day for a few hours.  Hopefully this endears us to her again. She was not happy to leave us today.  She got upset when we arrived at the orphanage.  Even though it was translated to her that we will be coming back for her, I could tell that she did not feel this was true.  Hopefully visiting her will be helpful.

TRAVEL - Kiev

Test number two done successfully.  We played on the playground equipment and learned a lot about what she can and can't tolerate.  She has trouble with a lot of things other kids do with ease.  Her run exists but is awkward, she got sick after only a few minutes on the swings, and the slides were terrifying to her at first.  Our brave little bit learned that it's ok to try scary things with parents to help her and hold her hand.  Her favorite activity is "jumping" off of things into our arms.  It's not really jumping, it's more like a thrilling high hug.  She will be standing on a bench or something, and doesn't move until we are like an inch away, and then leans into our arms.  Hilarious.  She giggles like she just rode a ride at Cedar Point.  She's also very sensitive to tactile surprises.  If we tickle her leg and she doesn't expect it she yells like we hurt her.  Even just patting her back, she "ouches" at first like it scares her.  We bought her a little necklace and bracelet set today at the mall, and she was almost incapacitated with the choices.  She just looked at us like, "Um, what am I supposed to do here?"  The caretaker was telling her to pick one, and showing her some of them.  She just did not know what to do, until we picked four for her to look at and then she picked one of the four.  She has had such high structure for the last few years, that choices and independence overwhelms her.  She's a super trooper and we love her to pieces.

TRAVEL - Kiev again

Yesterday was quite a whirlwind!  We were here and there and everywhere!  But the best news is that the orphanage director allowed the adoption process to begin and we were able to take Yuliya (who wishes to change her name, but until court she is still Yuliya) to Kiev to get the required medical testing for country exit.  The ride was hard going and the roads gave Sergei's car a busted wheel.  5 hrs with Yuliya and her caregiver, however, was priceless to learn how she acts in different situations.  What she likes to eat, I learned about her medications, and listened to her interact with her caregiver.  She is a resilient little one.  The car ride made her sick a couple times, but she's a trooper and she got through it.  We arrived in Kiev a little before 3am.  6am we were up to get her to the medical center for the test.  She did well and we went to get breakfast.  I learned what she eats in the orphanage and got to practice saying no when she wanted cakes instead of porridge.  She took it well, we are still strangers to her.  :)  Then we got groceries for the next few days and I helped to give her a bath (also very informative), seriously, this is like gold being able to learn what she's used to the last few years.  Now we will rest and catch up on Z's.  Pray for us please as this test takes 3 days.  Pray that the next few days go well!!!

TRAVEL - tomorrow!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Oslo.  We will be leaving for the airport mid-morning, then it's off on a jet plane for the ride of our lives!!!  Today I'm finishing a few things up, including this welcome book with picture of our house and family.  Cleaning, laundry, packing - also included of course!!!  I'm trying to squeeze in extra cuddles with the little dudes today, but just so happens they are wiggly and not receptive today.  I'll just keep trying. :)

Practicing the Ukrainian alphabet while filling out this book.  I wonder about some of these letters... I bet our new child(ren) will laugh at me.  At least it's good for a chuckle. :)

TRAVEL - the countdown is on!

it is now 7 days until we hop a jet plane for our new child(ren)!  We have been very busy with prep - making list after list.  We experienced the first of a set of acute money hemorrhages.  It was painful - but this week we had several blessings in that way, too.  Our church had some extra money in their adoption fund that we weren't aware of, we received word that we got a grant that we applied for, and a friend gave us a chunk of money that we weren't expecting, and we counted $100 more change from our change jar.  God just comes through!  It's amazing!  We've also been working on a few other little projects.  Yesterday my friend and I worked all day on filling our freezer with meals to fatten our orphanage kid(s) up!

See that one shelf?  That's a portion of the 31 meals we cooked up!

Also, I've been making a mini welcome book that someone can keep and look at, show to friends maybe?

It was a little set that I found at Save and Serve for .50.  I was pretty happy with the result.  There's several other pages - Mom, Dad, Grandparents made it in, and our house.

BIG UPDATE

IT'S THE BIG ONE!!!  Well, there are other big ones to come, but this is the BIGGEST SO FAR!!!  Yesterday we got word that we are traveling... IN TWO WEEKS!!!  I meant to post yesterday, but figured that my readership is pretty low and Facebook is better for simply letting everyone know.  It's so exciting to post something so concrete on this little blog of mine.  We travel April 10th (a Friday) and arrive in Kiev by Monday.  We are taking a one day layover in Oslo so Zack and I can have a little anniversary date.  We celebrate 10 years in a few months, and since it's going to be super difficult, if not impossible, to have our annual anniversary trip any other way, that's how we're going to make it happen this year!  And then our official appointment with the SDA in Kiev is on April 15th.  That will be a big day.  That's the day we receive a profile of a child (or two?) to meet.  My to-do list, like, exploded the last 24 hrs.  I'm going to be keeping everyone updated through this site as we travel, so bookmark this blog if you are interested.  It's really happening, people!!!

Update on our waiting

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  People kindly ask me every so often - "Any adoption news?"  And I answer them honestly - yes, but it's still super boring!!!  Our dossier paperwork was submitted on Jan 22 to the Ukrainian government.  I tell people, "You can't tell, but I'm bulging paper-pregnant!"  Now we wait for our approval and our "invitation to travel".  The estimated time to get our approval was, at the earliest, today!  Seriously, Old Christmas and Valentines Day have been weird this year because they have been paperwork timing dates.  We should be receiving our approval soon.  If we're approved, that is!  So, rather, we should be hearing in the next week whether or not we have been approved.  *nervous twitching*  After that, it may be four days, it may be four weeks until we receive our "invitation to travel", which will then occur approximately a month after we get aforementioned invitation.  Clear as mud?  Told'ya it was super boring.  But... that's what I have for now!  Continue to keep our family in your prayers as we prepare with excited trepidation (is that a thing?) for this vague event in the unknown, equally hazy, future.  Ooh, a foggy post.  You know what else?  Today marks the 2nd anniversary of the first post of the adoption chapter of this blog!  We have been in process for 2 years now.  Wow.  Looking back on this journey, God's timing and sovereignty is evident in so many ways.  We marvel at how He got us to where we are now.  What a long, strange, paper pregnancy!