Happy Tuesday!
Again, sincere apologies for neglecting this for so long. It has been a rather uneventful week..waiting for the next step. I hope this gets everyone up to speed and doesn't bore you too much:) It is sprinkled with some interesting info and a near death experience, so read on....:) See Saturday's entry if you don't have time to read it all and want to get to the terror! I only have time to post a few pictures today, but will try to post more tomorrow or the next day!
Monday, November 5, 2012
The first Monday without rain in a MONTH! YAY!
We had to get out of house for the cleaning lady again. We spent our day waiting for a phone call. Our white phone died so I attempting to get a message to Ni. on our little black phone.
We visited Coffee House for the last time. Now that our friend Ox., is no longer at Coffee House, it is not the same. We spent about 2 hours there, then went to Mosaic Park. Finally heard from Ni. around 2, who said she was going over to see the Judge to get our amended decree and then was planning to go to the birth certificate office on Tuesday at 9 because they were closed for a Holiday on Monday! Again!
We enjoyed Mosaic Park and most of all the weather! It was chilly, but not as cold. It was pleasant and not windy. It was grey, but NOT RAINING!! It was the FIRST non- rainy Monday in a MONTH! YAY! The playground was very nice and as the name, Mosaic, says, the rides were decorated with beautiful mosaics! The kids enjoyed the monkey bars, swings, see saw, and spinner. Although so many things here in Ukraine are dilapidated, the playgrounds we’ve seen are quite nice! After playing a while, we explored the trail! It was so much fun! Along the trail we discovered several interesting benches and of course had to pose on them!
One of the benches gave J.V. an idea. He said, “Oh, one moment! “ and he began arranging the kids in a particular order. After he finished, he exclaimed, “Narnia!” He had arranged the kids like the Kings and Queens of Narnia! This was particularly amazing because about 6 years ago, our Original Three were three of the Narnia kids for Fall Festival. When they were asked, “Where is your other brother?” they replied, “we’re still looking for him!” Here in Kiev we have watched several movies, including Narnia, but JV had no way to understand the significance of the movie to us when he arranged them like he did, so it was really remarkable to me. After that photo, we decided that this park reminded us quite a bit of Narnia with its odd forest which was tucked away right behind the big city! We half expected for Mr. Tumnus to walk out to greet us! Or a talking beaver! We explored the Narnian forest and took several more pictures. J1 & J2 and An. collected leaves, caterpillars and even slugs and we took many pictures among the beautiful yellow leaved trees. Fortunately, we didn’t run into the White Witch…yet.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
We were prepared to go with Ni. Tuesday morning to the birth certificate office, then for his id number and then his passport. But when I hadn’t heard anything by 11:30, I texted her and she called to say, I’ll be there in 10 minutes. What I have to tell you, I don’t want to tell you over the phone.” Wow, that was so sickening, terrifying, heart wrenching. I immediately put a prayer request on facebook, got dressed, read Psalm 23 then went downstairs to meet Ni. It felt very shady, like so many operations here! I’m not used to the back alley clandestine meetings! FORTUNATELY, after explaining the details of her visit to court on Monday and being told to come back Tuesday, then waiting and waiting again, Ni. told me that although she submitted the request for the amended decree on Nov 1st, and they told her three days, the judge didn’t receive it from her staff until Monday, Nov. 5th, and it was going to take her 5 (working??) days….so “come back on the 13th…that’s my final answer.” When Ni. protested, the less than compassionate judge said, “it usually takes me two weeks, so be happy with 5 days. “ So Ni. let me know she had contacted others, and had no idea how we could make this happen sooner. One influential person had recommended bringing the kids before the judge the following day to see if she would have mercy on us and move up the date. I started to think that my Kings and Queens of Narnia needed to suit up and go challenge the White Witch. Ultimately, after pondering on it all day, Ni. decided that it was too risky to go to the judge for fear that she may be so angry we questioned her decision that she’d add an extra week! So we decided to wait….another week…until we could even try to start on the next part of his process. Deep breath.
During the day, Sv. texted me and let me know that an anonymous donor from the American Embassy was offering to buy 4 pizzas for us for dinner! Wow! We found out that this family is also an adoptive family who wanted to “pay it forward”. They also have 3 bio kids and one adopted from South America. We chose 4 unique pizzas and enjoyed them with Sv. and Ir. During dinner, Sv. informed us that they also wanted to donate two weeks in an apartment or however long it takes for us to finish this process. WOW! Quite honestly, although I had wanted to get out of Sv.’s way…the thought of staying in a Ukrainian apartment as the only adult frightened me. But fast forward to today and we are very happy here and EXTREMELY grateful for the generosity of this anonymous family. I would really love to meet them!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
It was a rather dark day for me. The fear of moving and the extra week to wait really weighed on me. The U.S. election results only added to my gloom. We just did school work and packed all day, only leaving the house for a trip to the bank and grocery.
On this night, Sl. & Ir. came over. Ir. made a delicious stew with veal, potatoes, carrots, onions. We all spent some nice time together hearing more of Sv.’s interesting life stories.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
We packed more and did more school work, again only leaving the house to go to the grocery. Having to carry all of the groceries, we pretty much have to grocery shop every other day, if not more often!
Sv. & Ir. went to her Dad’s bday party. Sa. & Sl. came over for Shepherd’s Pie.
Friday, November 9, 2012
I thought we’d be flying home this day and the Ladies in our life over here (Ir., Sa. & Sl.) all went to the Ladies Retreat for the weekend. It was another rather sad and lonely day for me. Miss my husband, my parents, my friends, my home, my van, my country, smiling people. Can you see why I haven’t updated this blog in a while? Who wants to hear all of that boring and downcast news??:) I’m finally doing better so decided it was time to catch this up!
This was another day of school work and a trip to the bank and grocery. (Why the bank so often? We owe our facilitator more money than we can get in one trip to the atm…so have to keep going back over and over and over and over. ) We had our Ukrainian favorite meal, Pelmeni, for dinner. Sv. was gone until about 9:30 pm since he leads Youth group on Fridays. Ab. opted out of youth group this week since all the “girls” were gone.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Moving day. What a chore. Thankfully Sv. helped us by taking two trips to drive us over and help us get our stuff to the apartment. The kids and I made him a thank you card and signed a dollar bill for him. He had mentioned that he wanted one early in our stay, and as we packed up I found a stray dollar bill on my night stand which reminded me to leave one for him. We are SOOOOO grateful to him for putting up with us for as long as he did. We so appreciate our time in the Ritz of apartments here in Kiev!
Our new apartment is a 2 bedroom apartment with two little porches. We no longer have a clothes dryer, a dishwasher, a coffee maker, or a toaster …but it is a pretty nice place by Ukrainian apartment standards. Fortunately, there is a scary Babushka who guards the front door of the building, and a very nice playground right out front!
The donor family even gave us money to fill the refrigerator after our move! We are only 3 blocks from a great store here- a bit like a Walmart, so we walked up the road to restock our new place. Our walk back home in the dark was challenging with all of the goods we needed to start over here, but we made it.
After we unloaded, we went on a MUCH needed outing with fellow adoptive family, the B. Family, who are also adopting from F.H. Their new son was our new son’s roommate! We met them at the amazing and incredible Dreamtown Mall where most of the kids enjoyed another round of Ice Skating. (An. opted out since her last time was not so enjoyable.) Fortunately this time we weren’t surrounded by horrifying teenage Halloween costumes! Also fortunately, the Mall wasn’t as crowded so Na., Li. and I were able to secure a table on the sidelines of the skating rink and order some tea while we watched the kids skate. It was such a wonderful and therapeutic evening sharing laughter and adoption adventure woes. I am SO thankful to God that they are here, too. Our Ukrainian kids REALLY enjoyed seeing one another and all of the kids had a great time.
After our wonderful evening, the mall closed and we had to go our separate ways. We boarded the blue line metro trains and rode along together until the B. family had to get off. We found our station and proceeded to walk home in the dark. There are a lot of people out on the streets in the evening, and we have found this city to be much safer than we anticipated. We neared the intersection closest to our apartment and the “big kids” who were leading, found the pedestrian signal was not working. Well, we had to cross the street to get home, so Ab. waited until the cars had a red light, watched them stop and then proceeded into the street with J1. J2 and An. and I were following close behind and as we proceeded into the intersection “something” caused me to look toward the right. That is when I noticed a pair of headlights FLYING toward the intersection. It did NOT look like he had any intentions of stopping, so I YELLED at my big kids to STOP!!! Ab. heard me, but J1 did not..and kept plodding along. It was definitely the most terrifying moment of my life. Finally J1 stopped…but there we all were in the middle of a 4 lane road..…it nearly seemed to be in slow motion as the car came careening into the intersection, spotted us frozen, slammed on his brakes, skidded, screetched, slid, swerved and narrowly made it around us. We stood frozen for another moment and looked at the other cars to see if they also had started to move. Fortunately, they were all still sitting there- that crazy lunatic had run a red light, at HIGH speed! Once we realized the other cars were stationary, I yelled, “RUN!!!” and my kids and I RAN to the other side. Oh, my goodness. Words cannot express my feelings. We huddled together and I just sobbed, “Thank You Jesus, Thank You Jesus!!!” It still makes me teary to remember it. I had just read Psalm 34:7 the day before:
“The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them.”
Wow, am I ever thankful for that! I have heard stories of people who were up against people that the Lord was protecting seeing intimidating angels…wonder what that crazy drunk driver saw? I hope he saw a blinding, shiny angel with a sword and it changes his life forever!:)
Sunday, November 11, 2012
We got up and got ready for Church. I woke up with a migraine but was determined to persevere and make it to Church. The first morning in a new place is always the hardest as it is when we have to relocate every item we need to get ready to go! Breakfast items, coffee, cups, clothes, toiletries, towels, etc, etc. We were late for Church but we made it and were so glad we did. Since the Ladies of the Church (except me and a few othersJ) were out of town for the Retreat, the Pastor called it, “Man Church”. He handed out mustaches for everyone, so we had to get a mustache picture with Sv.!:
The Pastor’s message was about conquering fears (how appropriate for me!) and stepping out in faith as God leads you. This also reminded me of this big adventure we are a part of! In spite of the difficulty, I honestly would recommend this to everyone who feels called by God to adopt. The easy road is never the most interesting. Watching God work has been beyond description. The things we have seen and heard and learned and felt…all are irreplaceable learning experiences for me and for the kids. As we gathered together on our little porch last night to hang clothes out on the clothes line…the kids had a GREAT time! I think they thought it was a bit like a Little House on the Prairie episode. All of this “roughing it” doesn’t seem to bother them! In addition to the awesome message at Church, it is always a delight to be able to go to Church here and see fellow smiling Americans. :D
After Church Sv. went to a lunch meeting with a friend and the kids and I walked to McDonalds for some much needed comfort food. Mmmm… filet of fish and fries never tasted so good, except the last time I had them in Ukraine. If you can ignore the scowling people everywhere, McDonalds is pretty much the same hereJ.
After our comforting lunch at Mc Donald’s, we headed back to Megamarket for some more much needed items. We only have two towels in this new apartment. Since the shower leaks ALL OVER the entire bathroom floor every time we use it, we had to use the only two towels to soak up water! It is not overspray, as I initially falsely accused my poor boys. The floor of the shower just doesn’t drain properly, so water pools and seeps out all over the floor during the following hour after every shower) On our return trip to Megamarket, it was so nice to know our way around the store this time and find things much more easily and quickly. We then made our way back home by way of the awesome playground out front. The three youngest had a wonderful time playing, while Ab. and I chatted on a nearby bench. Again, the playgrounds here are very nice. This one is just for our apartment building and the one next door and it has several (maybe 8) nice pieces of equipment for the kids as well as SEVEN benches for parents! It is FAR superior to most playgrounds we frequent in FL! J.V. may get to America and say, ‘What’s up with this lame-o playground?? I thought this was the land of promiseJ! ‘ Good thing we have DisneyJ.
After playing a little while, the sun sets promptly at 4:30. By 5 it is PITCH DARK here! I can’t remember for certain, but it doesn’t seem like it is SO dark so early back home. Due to the early darkness…the playgrounds are illuminated by several surrounding lights. Every time we’ve looked there are several parents with their little tiny children playing in the pitch dark! (OK, mine are always the biggest kids, but they need to play too! And I make sure they are considerate of the littlest of littles, too). We guess these families playing in the dark are working parents who just got their kids from daycare and it is the only time they have to get outside and play.
After we returned home, we watched a dvd, (Monumental) and went to bed.
Monday, November 12, 2012
This was the first Monday we didn’t have to leave for the cleaning lady! We stayed home all day, just because we could!! We slept in, did school work, and even got to Skype with Gran and G.P. It was awesome!!! They had never tried Skype before, so it was a lot of fun. Once the kids finished all of their school work, we suited up in our coats, hats, scarves and gloves and hit the playground again, in the dark. J We fed the wild kitties some bizarre corn mush stuff that we tried to cook the other night. We thought it was couscous…but NOOO…it is some strange coarsely ground corn- a bit like grits, only much, much, much nastier. We have been unable to bring water to a boil on this stove (it is more like a hot plate) so everything we have tried to cook has failed. Water will FINALLY boil after about an hour, but when you add food it stops. The closest thing to palatable we’ve had was the pasta we had for lunch. Ab. got the pot to boil using the water from the tea pot, then let the noodles sit in the hot water for a while. It didn’t work out so well with the pelmeni tonight, which all fell apart into mush and globs of meat. Good thing the frying pan works ok and we supplemented with scrambled eggs. Even the kiwi s we bought yesterday were horrible, overripe and FERMENTED! Ewwww! Pretty much every meal we’ve had here in this apartment has been horrible. Even the sour cream we just bought was liquefied! It smelled and tasted OK…so we ate it sparingly, and hope tomorrow doesn’t hold nasty gastrointestinal surprises for us! Fortunately we are planning to get Dominoes pizza with the B. Family for dinner tomorrow night since Tuesday is their BOGO night!
Tomorrow is the 13th! It is the big day that the judge told Ni. to come back for our amended decree! Hopefully she will keep her word. Ni. told us to be ready by 9, so I need to wrap this up. HOPEFULLY we’ll make some progress toward getting the elusive birth certificate!!!! Until next time….which I will try to ensure isn’t another week!:)
Coffee House!
Sad, sad piano which sits on the street we used to travel frequently. Ab.'s piano teacher is cringing now!
My kiddos in one of my favorite trees..a weeping willow.
Sitting on an unusual bench....we think it is supposed to look like a blanket!
My Kings and Queens of Narnia!
Fortunately we found and rescued their missing brother and he wasn't being held by the White Witch (the "system" here) due to any fault of his own!
More pix to come.....
No comments:
Post a Comment