I love when I can get the camera rolling before I lose the shot.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Home Sweet Home Cont.
HELLLOOO!
It is really nice to greet you from home now (this is Karen.) Again, we were blessed with a pretty smooth process, but it is always nice to come back home. We are especially enjoying introducing Lance to our world. Like John Michael mentioned previously, we had a pretty good trip home. All the prayers came through. Lance was amazingly calm and cooperative the entire trip home until we hit our airport. He had fallen asleep on the last flight (only 1.5 hours long). So, he had to wake up from a deep sleep and was greeted by some of our closest friends. We were extremely happy to see them, but it was a lot for our little man here. He finally lost it. Once we were in the quiet car on the way home Lance was once again himself and laughing out-loud even through the fatigue.
Once we came home we could not have been any happier. First, we were home, then to our surprise some fabulous friends made sure we had everything we needed plus more. We were able to shower and watch Lance cruised around the house in amazement of the new things, his toys, and the carpet. John Michael videoed some of it, but the file is unfortunately too large to post on here. I wish we could share it! A few friends came by to visit and bring us some a hot dinner. Yummm! Lance welcomed them after a few minutes of hesitation.
We had a pretty good night's rest. Lance only became upset one time. I think he was very tired and was not sure where he was. He calmed down quickly once he realized he was still with us. Then we had to get him back to sleep because he wanted to play. ha! Right now he is taking a nap but we are going in to wake him up so that he will sleep tonight. I guess I better go.
Today has been very nice and relaxing.
Looking forward to sharing future stories,
Karen
It is really nice to greet you from home now (this is Karen.) Again, we were blessed with a pretty smooth process, but it is always nice to come back home. We are especially enjoying introducing Lance to our world. Like John Michael mentioned previously, we had a pretty good trip home. All the prayers came through. Lance was amazingly calm and cooperative the entire trip home until we hit our airport. He had fallen asleep on the last flight (only 1.5 hours long). So, he had to wake up from a deep sleep and was greeted by some of our closest friends. We were extremely happy to see them, but it was a lot for our little man here. He finally lost it. Once we were in the quiet car on the way home Lance was once again himself and laughing out-loud even through the fatigue.
Once we came home we could not have been any happier. First, we were home, then to our surprise some fabulous friends made sure we had everything we needed plus more. We were able to shower and watch Lance cruised around the house in amazement of the new things, his toys, and the carpet. John Michael videoed some of it, but the file is unfortunately too large to post on here. I wish we could share it! A few friends came by to visit and bring us some a hot dinner. Yummm! Lance welcomed them after a few minutes of hesitation.
We had a pretty good night's rest. Lance only became upset one time. I think he was very tired and was not sure where he was. He calmed down quickly once he realized he was still with us. Then we had to get him back to sleep because he wanted to play. ha! Right now he is taking a nap but we are going in to wake him up so that he will sleep tonight. I guess I better go.
Today has been very nice and relaxing.
Looking forward to sharing future stories,
Karen
Home Sweet Home!
Is there a more fitting title?! Wow! It has definitely been an experience for the ages. We are home and all is well. There are more specifics and we will update later. We just want to enjoy our home for a while. We are already unpacking and putting things up....I can't believe it either. It is comforting to put things away and get our house in working condition. I couldn't help it, we even made a real breakfast. FRENCH TOAST and our Millstone coffee!! It was amazing! We were also very excited to find several surprises in our house yesterday. Stocked refrigerator, flowers, streamers, new toys, etc. It was great....thank you so much to those who helped. (you know who you are).
We'll get back to you guys later...and hope to see you all soon!!
By the Grace of God,
John Michael, Karen, AND LANCE!!!!!!!!
We'll get back to you guys later...and hope to see you all soon!!
By the Grace of God,
John Michael, Karen, AND LANCE!!!!!!!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
SURPRISE!!
Hey everyone!
I have to give one last shout out to everyone on our last day in Ukraine. Full day, anyway. I will need to be quick because me awesome husband is keeping our son entertained outside so that we could update everyone and one of us get to read the comments and share. We have been so busy that I haven't been able to get on the internet personally for the last 5 days. Whew!
Quick update on the last few days:
The last day in Kramatorsk (Monday) we were busy making sure we had everything for the trip. Almost everything. We need to buy one more package of daipers before our flights and we are having a hard time finding a grocery store. hmmmm... It will work out.
Tuesday we picked up Lance for his last day at the orphanage. It was (and still is) pretty sureal (sp?). We then dashed off to Donetsk to get his passport, birth certificate and go to a notary. That all went well and we ended up having about 4 hours to waste at a pizza joint. We left on a train at 7:00 that night. Lance was such a trooper all day until we got on the train. I think that was his last straw. He lost it, but was able to calm down after about 30 min of rocking and singing. It was pretty hot, so that probably didn't help. BUT, once the train started, we had air conditioner!!!! Yes! I don't know if you can understand how great of a suprise that was. Lance and everyone except me seemed to sleep just fine. hee heedd. That made the second night in a row that I probably averaged about 3 hours of sleep. It was worth it, though. Anyway, we arrived in Kiev at 7:00am yesterday.
From there we went to the hospital for Lance's check up that is necessary for his visa. The lady was supposed to be there at 9, but arrived at 9:50. In the mean time we found out that the US Embassy is now giving about 50% of the visas out the next day. (We had the appointment planned for today and our flights tomorrow). That would NOT work and when I called there was no gaurantee. SO...we made a mad amount of phone calls and were able to convince them to give us an apointment for Lance's visa yesterday at 11:30. That means that we had to hire another translator and rush everything to be there on time. We finished at the hospital at 11:10. I didn't have the documents with me since I was not planning on going to the embassy until Thurs. (today). Augh! I called again and begged. It worked. We were able to keep our appointment, and actually get Lance's visa YESTERDAY!!! And, he had a good nap in the air conditioned embassy while we waited. It was a really long day, but so happy in the end.
So, today we have the day off to rest before our long trip tomorrow. I am glad that I was able to check in and I am very ready to be home and see all of you. Our flight leaves at 6:45am tomorrow morning. Please continue to keep us (especially Lance) in your prayers for the trip. Lance is hanging in there well, but I know all of this is not easy on him. Thanks! I am sorry if my spelling and grammer is horrible. I am typing as fast as I can. ha!
Love you all!
Karen
Love you guys!
I have to give one last shout out to everyone on our last day in Ukraine. Full day, anyway. I will need to be quick because me awesome husband is keeping our son entertained outside so that we could update everyone and one of us get to read the comments and share. We have been so busy that I haven't been able to get on the internet personally for the last 5 days. Whew!
Quick update on the last few days:
The last day in Kramatorsk (Monday) we were busy making sure we had everything for the trip. Almost everything. We need to buy one more package of daipers before our flights and we are having a hard time finding a grocery store. hmmmm... It will work out.
Tuesday we picked up Lance for his last day at the orphanage. It was (and still is) pretty sureal (sp?). We then dashed off to Donetsk to get his passport, birth certificate and go to a notary. That all went well and we ended up having about 4 hours to waste at a pizza joint. We left on a train at 7:00 that night. Lance was such a trooper all day until we got on the train. I think that was his last straw. He lost it, but was able to calm down after about 30 min of rocking and singing. It was pretty hot, so that probably didn't help. BUT, once the train started, we had air conditioner!!!! Yes! I don't know if you can understand how great of a suprise that was. Lance and everyone except me seemed to sleep just fine. hee heedd. That made the second night in a row that I probably averaged about 3 hours of sleep. It was worth it, though. Anyway, we arrived in Kiev at 7:00am yesterday.
From there we went to the hospital for Lance's check up that is necessary for his visa. The lady was supposed to be there at 9, but arrived at 9:50. In the mean time we found out that the US Embassy is now giving about 50% of the visas out the next day. (We had the appointment planned for today and our flights tomorrow). That would NOT work and when I called there was no gaurantee. SO...we made a mad amount of phone calls and were able to convince them to give us an apointment for Lance's visa yesterday at 11:30. That means that we had to hire another translator and rush everything to be there on time. We finished at the hospital at 11:10. I didn't have the documents with me since I was not planning on going to the embassy until Thurs. (today). Augh! I called again and begged. It worked. We were able to keep our appointment, and actually get Lance's visa YESTERDAY!!! And, he had a good nap in the air conditioned embassy while we waited. It was a really long day, but so happy in the end.
So, today we have the day off to rest before our long trip tomorrow. I am glad that I was able to check in and I am very ready to be home and see all of you. Our flight leaves at 6:45am tomorrow morning. Please continue to keep us (especially Lance) in your prayers for the trip. Lance is hanging in there well, but I know all of this is not easy on him. Thanks! I am sorry if my spelling and grammer is horrible. I am typing as fast as I can. ha!
Love you all!
Karen
Love you guys!
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Light at the End of the Tunnel, Home Stretch, Final Lap.....
Quote of the Day: Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
--Unknown
Day 30!! May 20th
Well yesterday was our big shiskabob picnic at the lake! Vova and his family(wife Elona and son Dima) invited us and provided more than enough food and drinks. We were unable to post because we went to Antoshka at 9 to see Lance then left at 10 for the picnic. We arrived back at the apartment tired and with a little bit of sun at 8:15 which gave us 45 minutes to take showers before the hot water was turned off. The weather was awesome and Vova and Elona proved to be great hosts. We built a campfire, cooked the delicious shiskabobs, played a little futbol, walked barefoot in the sand, and helped ourselves to the clear cool lake. Unfortunately we didn't bring our swimsuits to Ukraine(what were we thinking...wink) so Karen was unable to get fully submerged...until we threw her in...just kidding. Vova said the lake hasn't been there very long. They started digging there, for the sand, and tapped into a spring, hence the clear water. They are continuing to dig so the lake is getting bigger and bigger. The lake is outlined by a forest (mostly pines) which really provided a nice setting. On the way out before sunset, we had a short delay as a car had become stuck in the sand. From there on it was smooth sailing.
Now.... Onto our final days!!
I can't believe we are already here. Karen and I treated our infamous "10 Days" like the beginning of the trip. You just get going, get into it, don't watch the clock, and boom your there before you know it. It really seems like a short time since our court date last Thursday, 11 days ago. I mean tomorrow is our last night here in Kramatorshk!! Tomorrow Lance Ivan will officially be ours for the rest of his life! I need to sit down...yikes...I'm already sitting down.
The schedule from here on out:
Monday, go pick up our court decree(processed last week) which states that Lance Ivan is ours. We will say our final goodbyes and pack.
Tuesday Alex, Olga, Karen, Lance,me, Vladimir, and Vladimir(Vova) leave for Donetsk in two cars with all our luggage. We leave straight from the orphanage after picking Lance up which will be the beginning of him being solely our responsibility! Once in Donetsk we will be going to several offices, picking up documents, and doing a lot of waiting in the car. We will board an overnight train to Kiev from there with Alex and Olga.
Wednesday, immediately off the train Alex will take our luggage to the apartment and the rest of us will begin our work obtaining more documents.
Thursday, our appointments continue hopefully ending by 3:30 p.m. Our last stop will be the good ole' US Embassy.
Friday, departure time from Kiev at 6:45 a.m. with an ultimate arrival at XNA in Fayetteville at 4:33 p.m. on Friday!! 18 hour trip with pretty much no layover time to catch our breath. Don't be surprised if we pass out at XNA. Then life, in the U.S., as we know it will never be the same....AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! That is the plan and we hope that all of you will be praying for a smooth ride back home.
Tommorrow is our last gauranteed day of internet access. We'll have a "possible" final post tomorrow and as much as we want to keep everyone up-to-date it may not be possible in Kiev. We will try.
Enjoy the pictures and hope you're having a great Sunday!!
Karen and JM 4:15 p.m.
These are some pics from our little shiskabob picnic at the lake Saturday.
This is our little setup on the bank. Snacks all day.
I wanted to get a shot of the clear water. Not too bad huh? Can you believe some people come to adopt during the cold season and miss out on this?! Ha.
Vova's Family, Dima, and Elona
Vova had just put the stakes on and pouring a little "vino" for an extra taste.
One of our last days without Little Lance!
This is a car that got stuck in the sand on our way out. Vova is going to the rescue! I know what you're thinking. Me too. ;)
This was Friday. We officially said our goodbyes and gave our last gifts to Ivan's room. Saying this now I wish I would have taken a picture of the caregivers with our gifts. Dang it. This is the Director of the Antoshka orphanage,Antolly. We were able to give our thanks and visit together one last time.
Alex and Lance Ivan outside that morning at the orphanage.
A nice family shot, eh!
I found out a couple of days ago this a fun activity for Little Lance. I help him do pull-ups. He does more of the pulling up than you would think. He can hang freely for about ten seconds also! The Ukrainian mamas and babushkas didn't think this was very funny.
These are a couple of kids(Sergei and Igor) and caregivers from room 4....plus Alex again. Ha. Olga's mom is on the right.
--Unknown
Day 30!! May 20th
Well yesterday was our big shiskabob picnic at the lake! Vova and his family(wife Elona and son Dima) invited us and provided more than enough food and drinks. We were unable to post because we went to Antoshka at 9 to see Lance then left at 10 for the picnic. We arrived back at the apartment tired and with a little bit of sun at 8:15 which gave us 45 minutes to take showers before the hot water was turned off. The weather was awesome and Vova and Elona proved to be great hosts. We built a campfire, cooked the delicious shiskabobs, played a little futbol, walked barefoot in the sand, and helped ourselves to the clear cool lake. Unfortunately we didn't bring our swimsuits to Ukraine(what were we thinking...wink) so Karen was unable to get fully submerged...until we threw her in...just kidding. Vova said the lake hasn't been there very long. They started digging there, for the sand, and tapped into a spring, hence the clear water. They are continuing to dig so the lake is getting bigger and bigger. The lake is outlined by a forest (mostly pines) which really provided a nice setting. On the way out before sunset, we had a short delay as a car had become stuck in the sand. From there on it was smooth sailing.
Now.... Onto our final days!!
I can't believe we are already here. Karen and I treated our infamous "10 Days" like the beginning of the trip. You just get going, get into it, don't watch the clock, and boom your there before you know it. It really seems like a short time since our court date last Thursday, 11 days ago. I mean tomorrow is our last night here in Kramatorshk!! Tomorrow Lance Ivan will officially be ours for the rest of his life! I need to sit down...yikes...I'm already sitting down.
The schedule from here on out:
Monday, go pick up our court decree(processed last week) which states that Lance Ivan is ours. We will say our final goodbyes and pack.
Tuesday Alex, Olga, Karen, Lance,me, Vladimir, and Vladimir(Vova) leave for Donetsk in two cars with all our luggage. We leave straight from the orphanage after picking Lance up which will be the beginning of him being solely our responsibility! Once in Donetsk we will be going to several offices, picking up documents, and doing a lot of waiting in the car. We will board an overnight train to Kiev from there with Alex and Olga.
Wednesday, immediately off the train Alex will take our luggage to the apartment and the rest of us will begin our work obtaining more documents.
Thursday, our appointments continue hopefully ending by 3:30 p.m. Our last stop will be the good ole' US Embassy.
Friday, departure time from Kiev at 6:45 a.m. with an ultimate arrival at XNA in Fayetteville at 4:33 p.m. on Friday!! 18 hour trip with pretty much no layover time to catch our breath. Don't be surprised if we pass out at XNA. Then life, in the U.S., as we know it will never be the same....AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!! That is the plan and we hope that all of you will be praying for a smooth ride back home.
Tommorrow is our last gauranteed day of internet access. We'll have a "possible" final post tomorrow and as much as we want to keep everyone up-to-date it may not be possible in Kiev. We will try.
Enjoy the pictures and hope you're having a great Sunday!!
Karen and JM 4:15 p.m.
These are some pics from our little shiskabob picnic at the lake Saturday.
This is our little setup on the bank. Snacks all day.
I wanted to get a shot of the clear water. Not too bad huh? Can you believe some people come to adopt during the cold season and miss out on this?! Ha.
Vova's Family, Dima, and Elona
Vova had just put the stakes on and pouring a little "vino" for an extra taste.
One of our last days without Little Lance!
This is a car that got stuck in the sand on our way out. Vova is going to the rescue! I know what you're thinking. Me too. ;)
This was Friday. We officially said our goodbyes and gave our last gifts to Ivan's room. Saying this now I wish I would have taken a picture of the caregivers with our gifts. Dang it. This is the Director of the Antoshka orphanage,Antolly. We were able to give our thanks and visit together one last time.
Alex and Lance Ivan outside that morning at the orphanage.
A nice family shot, eh!
I found out a couple of days ago this a fun activity for Little Lance. I help him do pull-ups. He does more of the pulling up than you would think. He can hang freely for about ten seconds also! The Ukrainian mamas and babushkas didn't think this was very funny.
These are a couple of kids(Sergei and Igor) and caregivers from room 4....plus Alex again. Ha. Olga's mom is on the right.
Friday, May 18, 2007
VERY quick hello
Hey Everyone!
We can't stay around to chat because we are going to see Lance real quick then out to the picnic. (Not to mention needing to go buy water and sunscreen.) But we just wanted to let everyone know we have some great picts that we want to post. We have been trying for two days. For some reason the link to upload pictures in not working. Hmm. Anyway, we are thinking of you and just wanted to let you know.
:o) Karen and JM
We can't stay around to chat because we are going to see Lance real quick then out to the picnic. (Not to mention needing to go buy water and sunscreen.) But we just wanted to let everyone know we have some great picts that we want to post. We have been trying for two days. For some reason the link to upload pictures in not working. Hmm. Anyway, we are thinking of you and just wanted to let you know.
:o) Karen and JM
Lets try this again
Quote of the day:
Truth is what stands the test of experience.
--Albert Einstein
Hmmm, lets see if I can remember all that I wrote last night. Some of what I wrote was about today, so I will tell you what happened. ha! This morning we had our last meeting with the director of the orphanage, Antoli. This is the time that you give your gifts/donation to the orphanage and say any thank you's you might have. It was really nice. He was very kind and had a lot to say about our efforts to help the children with special needs. He is completely amazed that "our organization" (ha, Kym, Amanda, and myself with our husbands) have adopted so many children with special needs. He said out of the 15 countries that come to the orphanage we are the only "group" that has adopted these children. We assured him it was God who put it on our hearts and not our own doing. And it doesn't hurt that the children are precious, too! He was almost in tears and had me in tears. Of course, as it has so often, the institution these children would have gone to was brought up and some of the recent horrific stories. Again, God reconfirmed our goal to help these children (the adopted and not adopted children with special needs.) Okay, I am sorry. I am getting a little emotional. I just wish that we could do more and quicker. Antoli brought out an album of pictures and letters from adopting parents that went back to at least 1990. It had newspaper articles and more. It was nice to see his pride in the orphange and the children. I know we always think there must be more that could be done, and there is, but they do a pretty good job considering the circumstances I think. We also were able to give the caregivers our gifts today. It was nice to see how happy they were over some of the simplest things like a digital thermometer. Up to today, they had to go to another room to borrow the scales and thermometer. They were using the old mercury kind and had to spend 10min on each child instead of one second. Hopefully, they will be able to spend the extra time playing with the children.
I mentioned the family and our aquaintance in the car wreck last week. Unfortunately, we do not have any updates on them. We continue to pray and appreciate your prayers as well. Hopefully, we will hear something soon.
Last night we went to eat at the local pizza place (Chelantano's) with Alex, Olga, and the other couple from America. It was great. We then walked back a way that we had not yet traveled. It was really pretty. It was a street that had been devoted to a memorial of all the Soviet soldiers from the area that were killed by the Nazis. The steet is lined with blooming trees and in the middle there is a large statue of a lady (Mother earth) with an eternal flame in front of her. I am very surprised we had not seen this before. I was impressed. There is a lot of history here.
We have been invited to go to a lake for a picnic all day tomorrow with the driver from previous trips, Vova, and his family. I am really excited. I love the outdoors and a picnic is a bonus! I think we are supposed to build a fire and make shishka-bobs (sp?). I better get some sunscreen! This past week has been pretty hot, but today is probably in the 70s again with a cloud cover. Within the past week we have gone from Lance being clad in 4 layers of clothes to the caregivers asking us to buy him some sandals because his feet are too hot in tennis shoes. ha! I believe summer is really here now, though.
We want to thank you all again for all of your comments and support. I know I say this a lot, but I truly don't think everyone realizes how much their comments mean to us. Although we are not able to comment to all of them, that does not mean we don't cherish them. We look forward to coming in here each day. Then we discuss them frequently throughout the day. It has been brought to our attention, on more than one occasion, that we have accidentally hurt some of those closest to us by inadvertently not responding to their comments. I promise we did not mean to do that at all. In order to avoid this, we probably are not going to reply to specific comments anymore. Please realize that your comments are still very important to us and we will be reading them just the same. I am sorry if there is anyone else that has felt this way and has not let us know. It makes us extremely sad to know that we have accidentally hurt your feelings.
Have a good day,
John Michael and Karen
Truth is what stands the test of experience.
--Albert Einstein
Hmmm, lets see if I can remember all that I wrote last night. Some of what I wrote was about today, so I will tell you what happened. ha! This morning we had our last meeting with the director of the orphanage, Antoli. This is the time that you give your gifts/donation to the orphanage and say any thank you's you might have. It was really nice. He was very kind and had a lot to say about our efforts to help the children with special needs. He is completely amazed that "our organization" (ha, Kym, Amanda, and myself with our husbands) have adopted so many children with special needs. He said out of the 15 countries that come to the orphanage we are the only "group" that has adopted these children. We assured him it was God who put it on our hearts and not our own doing. And it doesn't hurt that the children are precious, too! He was almost in tears and had me in tears. Of course, as it has so often, the institution these children would have gone to was brought up and some of the recent horrific stories. Again, God reconfirmed our goal to help these children (the adopted and not adopted children with special needs.) Okay, I am sorry. I am getting a little emotional. I just wish that we could do more and quicker. Antoli brought out an album of pictures and letters from adopting parents that went back to at least 1990. It had newspaper articles and more. It was nice to see his pride in the orphange and the children. I know we always think there must be more that could be done, and there is, but they do a pretty good job considering the circumstances I think. We also were able to give the caregivers our gifts today. It was nice to see how happy they were over some of the simplest things like a digital thermometer. Up to today, they had to go to another room to borrow the scales and thermometer. They were using the old mercury kind and had to spend 10min on each child instead of one second. Hopefully, they will be able to spend the extra time playing with the children.
I mentioned the family and our aquaintance in the car wreck last week. Unfortunately, we do not have any updates on them. We continue to pray and appreciate your prayers as well. Hopefully, we will hear something soon.
Last night we went to eat at the local pizza place (Chelantano's) with Alex, Olga, and the other couple from America. It was great. We then walked back a way that we had not yet traveled. It was really pretty. It was a street that had been devoted to a memorial of all the Soviet soldiers from the area that were killed by the Nazis. The steet is lined with blooming trees and in the middle there is a large statue of a lady (Mother earth) with an eternal flame in front of her. I am very surprised we had not seen this before. I was impressed. There is a lot of history here.
We have been invited to go to a lake for a picnic all day tomorrow with the driver from previous trips, Vova, and his family. I am really excited. I love the outdoors and a picnic is a bonus! I think we are supposed to build a fire and make shishka-bobs (sp?). I better get some sunscreen! This past week has been pretty hot, but today is probably in the 70s again with a cloud cover. Within the past week we have gone from Lance being clad in 4 layers of clothes to the caregivers asking us to buy him some sandals because his feet are too hot in tennis shoes. ha! I believe summer is really here now, though.
We want to thank you all again for all of your comments and support. I know I say this a lot, but I truly don't think everyone realizes how much their comments mean to us. Although we are not able to comment to all of them, that does not mean we don't cherish them. We look forward to coming in here each day. Then we discuss them frequently throughout the day. It has been brought to our attention, on more than one occasion, that we have accidentally hurt some of those closest to us by inadvertently not responding to their comments. I promise we did not mean to do that at all. In order to avoid this, we probably are not going to reply to specific comments anymore. Please realize that your comments are still very important to us and we will be reading them just the same. I am sorry if there is anyone else that has felt this way and has not let us know. It makes us extremely sad to know that we have accidentally hurt your feelings.
Have a good day,
John Michael and Karen
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Was going to be "Countdown..."
Quote of the Day:
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
--Oprah Winfrey
Okay guys. I really did/ do have a lot to say. I honestly just spent about an hour typing the post for today, hit enter, and poof it was gone. Needless to say, I am a bit flustered at this point. JM and I have been trying to recover it, but with no success. Anyway, I will have to say it some other time. Sorry guys. It is 11:15pm now and I can not get myself to retype the whole letter. I hope you guys are having a great afternoon.
Love, Karen
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you did it or not.
--Oprah Winfrey
Okay guys. I really did/ do have a lot to say. I honestly just spent about an hour typing the post for today, hit enter, and poof it was gone. Needless to say, I am a bit flustered at this point. JM and I have been trying to recover it, but with no success. Anyway, I will have to say it some other time. Sorry guys. It is 11:15pm now and I can not get myself to retype the whole letter. I hope you guys are having a great afternoon.
Love, Karen
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Sharing some more pictures
Here are some picts from the last few days. Enjoy!!
Lance and Daddy taking a walk at the orphanage. Almost the same height ;o)
Our pilot boy..look at those straight legs!
One of my favorites, what can I say...
Gotta love water!!! I can't wait until we can take our first bath!
Here is our big boy with his new hair cut.
Lance and Daddy taking a walk at the orphanage. Almost the same height ;o)
Our pilot boy..look at those straight legs!
One of my favorites, what can I say...
Gotta love water!!! I can't wait until we can take our first bath!
Here is our big boy with his new hair cut.
Haaaa-lle-lu-ia, Halleluia, Ha LLE luia
Quote of the Day:
I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. --Mother Teresa
Ha, I promise that we didn't hand pick that quote for today. We blindly pick one each day but some days they really hit the spot. The funny thing is that I started typing todays post before we had the quote so the next couple of sentences were already here. They seem to mesh well, though...
Well, it seems all of you were right. AGAIN, God is amazing. I think he does things like the plane tickets just to remind me of his awesome power. According to our travel agent, he has reserved tickets for us on the 25th!! We just have to pay an upgrade fee (that was supposedly impossible before) and a change of date fee. Which for what we were looking at spending that is no big deal. Now we need to call and buy little Lance's tickets. Whoo-hoo! Once again, I am really excited!
Oh, guess what?! Lance got a hair cut yesterday. It is pretty strange to compare his passport photo and his hair now. The front is a little too short for my taste, but not too bad. I don't know how he got it, though. ;o)
Last night we went to eat with the other couple from America again. It was nice to share stories and speak english for the entire conversation. A new couple arrived at the orphange from Italy today. They seem to be really nice, but we were not able to visit very long. Lance threw-up in the gym today without any warning and has not shown any signs of an upset stomach since then. Not really sure what to make of it, but we haven't made too big of a deal. Anyway, we decided to go out of the gym just to be safe and to make sure not to get anyone else worried.
JM chiming in. Just wanted to touch on some sports news. Opa, I saw Lefty pulled out the Players Championship...did Zach Johnson compete? I actually won the Western Open last week thanks to Chris leaving me his PSP and Tiger Woods PGA Golf game, ha. BTW Unc, I told Alex that you miss some things about Ukraine and he said, "You...Chris..welcome back." So we are here for another week if you want to swing back by...HA. Larry I heard you've got a wii? I'm very jealous...hope Brussels was good to you. I hope the Spurs can keep it going in the playoffs. I want to be able to see them win another championship when I get back. I don't know about my Astros though. Good thing the NL Central is weak because they could have already been out of contention. Oh well. Plenty of baseball left. Its going to be great to raise my boy to have loyalty to all of my teams. Ahhh. Alright, later.
Love you all,
Karen and JM
I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. --Mother Teresa
Ha, I promise that we didn't hand pick that quote for today. We blindly pick one each day but some days they really hit the spot. The funny thing is that I started typing todays post before we had the quote so the next couple of sentences were already here. They seem to mesh well, though...
Well, it seems all of you were right. AGAIN, God is amazing. I think he does things like the plane tickets just to remind me of his awesome power. According to our travel agent, he has reserved tickets for us on the 25th!! We just have to pay an upgrade fee (that was supposedly impossible before) and a change of date fee. Which for what we were looking at spending that is no big deal. Now we need to call and buy little Lance's tickets. Whoo-hoo! Once again, I am really excited!
Oh, guess what?! Lance got a hair cut yesterday. It is pretty strange to compare his passport photo and his hair now. The front is a little too short for my taste, but not too bad. I don't know how he got it, though. ;o)
Last night we went to eat with the other couple from America again. It was nice to share stories and speak english for the entire conversation. A new couple arrived at the orphange from Italy today. They seem to be really nice, but we were not able to visit very long. Lance threw-up in the gym today without any warning and has not shown any signs of an upset stomach since then. Not really sure what to make of it, but we haven't made too big of a deal. Anyway, we decided to go out of the gym just to be safe and to make sure not to get anyone else worried.
JM chiming in. Just wanted to touch on some sports news. Opa, I saw Lefty pulled out the Players Championship...did Zach Johnson compete? I actually won the Western Open last week thanks to Chris leaving me his PSP and Tiger Woods PGA Golf game, ha. BTW Unc, I told Alex that you miss some things about Ukraine and he said, "You...Chris..welcome back." So we are here for another week if you want to swing back by...HA. Larry I heard you've got a wii? I'm very jealous...hope Brussels was good to you. I hope the Spurs can keep it going in the playoffs. I want to be able to see them win another championship when I get back. I don't know about my Astros though. Good thing the NL Central is weak because they could have already been out of contention. Oh well. Plenty of baseball left. Its going to be great to raise my boy to have loyalty to all of my teams. Ahhh. Alright, later.
Love you all,
Karen and JM
Monday, May 14, 2007
Day 24 with Lance
Quote of the Day:
It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. --Abraham Lincoln
I really like that quote. If you let it sink in, it can really make you evaluate what and how things bother you (if they do ;O)) and how small things really are. I think I needed that because honestly I was a little moody today. No real reason, though. Well that is until I tried to get plane tickets...please don't freak out. I have already done that and it didn't change anything. We are working on the situation as we speak. So, I guess you want to know what I am talking about. We originally bought round trip tickets to Ukraine with the intentions on changing the return date to match our needs. This is why we used a travel agent to make sure we bought the right kind of tickets in order to assure this accomodation. I called the airlines today to change our return flight from the 23rd to the 25th. The seats for tickets at our rate were full beyond June 10th. There is no option of upgrading either. So our options look are though we can fly on the 23rd (which will not allow enough time for all the paperwork) or buy new tickets. So far, the tickets I have found are $3,000+ per person. Ha, that's funny. I have written the travel agent hoping he will have some options and Susan, my sister, is looking into standby flights for us. I have to say that standby does not sound too good with a child who will be in shock, new parents, and a lot of heavy luggage. I'm sorry, I really did not mean to vent, but it is the big thing of the day today. The good news is that we have all our appointments lined up in Kiev to make sure we are finished on the 24th. Isn't that ironic? :o)
Lance had a really good day today. I did feel pretty bad for JM, though. He was in charge of nap time while I worked on the flights. Lance used every tactic he could to remain awake. An hour later I came back and JM was worn out. I rocked Lance a maximum of 10 min. and he was out. Honestly, he probably wore himself out during the hour, but it still was frustrating for our new dad here. It was once again a gorgeous day, too. We did a lot of walking. Oh, we were able to take Lance to get his passport photo today. He was such a good little boy and sat still in the chair all by himself. I can't wait to see his big brown eyes in that picture.
Today was our 6th day of our workout routine. We changed it up and ran stairs and did exercises indoors this morning. John Michael convinced me to take mother's day off yesterday...I can't say he had to twist my arm very hard.
Tidbits:
-Ashley, it was very nice to hear from you. We definitely want to take you up on the dinner, too. I promise we are not avoiding it. :o)
-Cheryl, I will have to keep TAPS in mind. I will let you know about the sign-up form a little further down the road.
-I am glad that you all enjoyed the giggles. He is one happy little fellow. His giggle brightens our days for sure.
I think that is enough ramblings for one evening. Sorry about that. We continue to think of each and every one of you.
Love,
John Michael and Karen
It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. --Abraham Lincoln
I really like that quote. If you let it sink in, it can really make you evaluate what and how things bother you (if they do ;O)) and how small things really are. I think I needed that because honestly I was a little moody today. No real reason, though. Well that is until I tried to get plane tickets...please don't freak out. I have already done that and it didn't change anything. We are working on the situation as we speak. So, I guess you want to know what I am talking about. We originally bought round trip tickets to Ukraine with the intentions on changing the return date to match our needs. This is why we used a travel agent to make sure we bought the right kind of tickets in order to assure this accomodation. I called the airlines today to change our return flight from the 23rd to the 25th. The seats for tickets at our rate were full beyond June 10th. There is no option of upgrading either. So our options look are though we can fly on the 23rd (which will not allow enough time for all the paperwork) or buy new tickets. So far, the tickets I have found are $3,000+ per person. Ha, that's funny. I have written the travel agent hoping he will have some options and Susan, my sister, is looking into standby flights for us. I have to say that standby does not sound too good with a child who will be in shock, new parents, and a lot of heavy luggage. I'm sorry, I really did not mean to vent, but it is the big thing of the day today. The good news is that we have all our appointments lined up in Kiev to make sure we are finished on the 24th. Isn't that ironic? :o)
Lance had a really good day today. I did feel pretty bad for JM, though. He was in charge of nap time while I worked on the flights. Lance used every tactic he could to remain awake. An hour later I came back and JM was worn out. I rocked Lance a maximum of 10 min. and he was out. Honestly, he probably wore himself out during the hour, but it still was frustrating for our new dad here. It was once again a gorgeous day, too. We did a lot of walking. Oh, we were able to take Lance to get his passport photo today. He was such a good little boy and sat still in the chair all by himself. I can't wait to see his big brown eyes in that picture.
Today was our 6th day of our workout routine. We changed it up and ran stairs and did exercises indoors this morning. John Michael convinced me to take mother's day off yesterday...I can't say he had to twist my arm very hard.
Tidbits:
-Ashley, it was very nice to hear from you. We definitely want to take you up on the dinner, too. I promise we are not avoiding it. :o)
-Cheryl, I will have to keep TAPS in mind. I will let you know about the sign-up form a little further down the road.
-I am glad that you all enjoyed the giggles. He is one happy little fellow. His giggle brightens our days for sure.
I think that is enough ramblings for one evening. Sorry about that. We continue to think of each and every one of you.
Love,
John Michael and Karen
Sunday, May 13, 2007
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!
Quote of the Day: What children take from us, they give... We become people who feel more deeply, question more deeply, hurt more deeply, and love more deeply.
--Sonia Taitz
Day 23 May 13th Mother's Day:
I feel really happy for Karen to be able to officially celebrate her first Mother's Day...and in Ukraine!? I guess its kinda fitting? Luckily the East Coast weather that delayed us one day from our departure allowed us to stop by Wolf Ranch in Georgetown and get Mother's Day cards...and for me to get Karen a gift.
Oma and Nana: You can now open up those envelopes we know you've been anxiously awaiting to open. Hope you have a great Mother's Day. Thank you so much for being so supportive and encouraging not just during this great time of need but, our whole lives. I know we are definitely using many things you taught us during our time as new parents in Ukraine. We love you! And it will be a great day when we present Little Lance to you for the first time.
To our sisters Susan, Chrystal, and Judy: We have been getting the "Just you wait" line for several years now. Well the waiting is over! We hope you don't think we ever blew you off when those times came up. We developed too much respect for you as sisters and mothers to disregard things you said about parenting. During our time with Lance there have been many times when one of us would say "Susan doesn't let Julia do that"...or "Judy makes Alexis do this"...or "Chrystal would do this if..." We followed Amanda and Kym's lead here to Ukraine and will follow your lead as parents throughout our lives.
To Kym and Angela, Happy 1st Mother's Day! Everyone else, keep up the good work and enjoy your Mother's Day too.
John Michael actually told me Happy Mother's Day first at 12:05 last night. I will explain why later, but I was impressed he remembered. Many of you know he is pretty good at all that kind of stuff. This morning he had planned to take me to breakfast. Unfortunately, we soon learned that the resteraunt didn't open until 11:00 so he made me breakfast instead. It was really nice. He also brought out the card that Kym and Amanda sent with us for today. Thanks guys! I am still in suspence as to what JM got me because he has been hiding it the whole trip, but has not brought it out yet. :o)
We played outside with Lance again today since the weather is once again gorgeous! His walking sure is improving. He seems to be developing a little tummy, too. hee hee! Today JM and I bought some little ice cream bars at the grocery store and ate them with Lance outside (he just had a couple of nibbles.) It was a nice little memory for my mother's day. This afternoon (about 30 minute ago) Olga and Alex presented me with a gift as well. It is a pretty silver jewelry box. I thought it was extremely kind of them. Then, on top of all of that, Amanda called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Wow, I feel pretty spoiled! Lance has no clue at this point, but his precious smile is enough for me.
I hate to end on a serious note, but I have a major prayer request. I know there are some awesome prayer warriors reading this, so I have great confidence. The reason JM and I were up late last night is because a person we recently met here was in a head-on collision yesterday. The other car's driver fell asleep at the wheel(it was a family of 3 adults and one infant). Our friend seems to be relatively fine physically, but emotionally is having a difficult time. The other family is all hospitalized, but we are not sure of their condition. Please pray for:
-physical healing
-emotional healing specifically for both drivers who carry a lot of guilt (even our friend who did everything possible to avoid the accident)
-financial security, there is no car or health insurance in Ukraine
-for both families to grow closer to God during this time and that the devil will not be able to gain a stronghold in their life through this event
Thank you so much!
John Michael and Karen
Again Happy Mother's Day!!
--Sonia Taitz
Day 23 May 13th Mother's Day:
I feel really happy for Karen to be able to officially celebrate her first Mother's Day...and in Ukraine!? I guess its kinda fitting? Luckily the East Coast weather that delayed us one day from our departure allowed us to stop by Wolf Ranch in Georgetown and get Mother's Day cards...and for me to get Karen a gift.
Oma and Nana: You can now open up those envelopes we know you've been anxiously awaiting to open. Hope you have a great Mother's Day. Thank you so much for being so supportive and encouraging not just during this great time of need but, our whole lives. I know we are definitely using many things you taught us during our time as new parents in Ukraine. We love you! And it will be a great day when we present Little Lance to you for the first time.
To our sisters Susan, Chrystal, and Judy: We have been getting the "Just you wait" line for several years now. Well the waiting is over! We hope you don't think we ever blew you off when those times came up. We developed too much respect for you as sisters and mothers to disregard things you said about parenting. During our time with Lance there have been many times when one of us would say "Susan doesn't let Julia do that"...or "Judy makes Alexis do this"...or "Chrystal would do this if..." We followed Amanda and Kym's lead here to Ukraine and will follow your lead as parents throughout our lives.
To Kym and Angela, Happy 1st Mother's Day! Everyone else, keep up the good work and enjoy your Mother's Day too.
John Michael actually told me Happy Mother's Day first at 12:05 last night. I will explain why later, but I was impressed he remembered. Many of you know he is pretty good at all that kind of stuff. This morning he had planned to take me to breakfast. Unfortunately, we soon learned that the resteraunt didn't open until 11:00 so he made me breakfast instead. It was really nice. He also brought out the card that Kym and Amanda sent with us for today. Thanks guys! I am still in suspence as to what JM got me because he has been hiding it the whole trip, but has not brought it out yet. :o)
We played outside with Lance again today since the weather is once again gorgeous! His walking sure is improving. He seems to be developing a little tummy, too. hee hee! Today JM and I bought some little ice cream bars at the grocery store and ate them with Lance outside (he just had a couple of nibbles.) It was a nice little memory for my mother's day. This afternoon (about 30 minute ago) Olga and Alex presented me with a gift as well. It is a pretty silver jewelry box. I thought it was extremely kind of them. Then, on top of all of that, Amanda called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. Wow, I feel pretty spoiled! Lance has no clue at this point, but his precious smile is enough for me.
I hate to end on a serious note, but I have a major prayer request. I know there are some awesome prayer warriors reading this, so I have great confidence. The reason JM and I were up late last night is because a person we recently met here was in a head-on collision yesterday. The other car's driver fell asleep at the wheel(it was a family of 3 adults and one infant). Our friend seems to be relatively fine physically, but emotionally is having a difficult time. The other family is all hospitalized, but we are not sure of their condition. Please pray for:
-physical healing
-emotional healing specifically for both drivers who carry a lot of guilt (even our friend who did everything possible to avoid the accident)
-financial security, there is no car or health insurance in Ukraine
-for both families to grow closer to God during this time and that the devil will not be able to gain a stronghold in their life through this event
Thank you so much!
John Michael and Karen
Again Happy Mother's Day!!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Spring is here!
Quote of the Day:
Your children become what you are; so be what you want them to be.
--David Bly
Good afternoon (4:17PM here)
I am trying to write before it gets too late in the morning for you guys. We have not had anything too eventful happen today, but we atleast wanted to check-in. It is a gorgeous day here in Kramatorsk as you will be able to see in some of the pictures. Everyone here is amazed it is still so cool this time of year. Typically, they say you should be able to swim but today is the warmest it has been and it is probably in the 70s. We had Lance out playing today. He did an impressive amount of walking. Unfortunately, his infatuation with doors even carries over to the outside. He walked across the entire playground to get to one door (which was locked.) He even accomplished one 2in high step by himself one time. Whoo-hoo. We are going to go outside again this evening. I am personally really looking forward to it.
Well, enjoy the pictures everyone!
- Judy, thank for sharing your Alexis stories. I always enjoy those and had missed them until today. Keep them coming!
- Thanks for the update dad.
- All of you that have posted that we have not seen or talked to in a long time. It is nice to hear from you. It is fun when good news can reunite friends and family.
Love, JM and Karen
Another one of the children here with special needs. She has been working very hard to stand with me.
The trees are blooming and everything has turned green since we arrived. We wanted to share spring with you all but if you can see, our little one was on the move, too.
After a hard trek we had to sit down and dump dirt on our pants. Hey, isn't that what boys are supposed to do?
We have been trying to capture some of Lance's babbling on video for you but he becomes camera shy. Atleast we can capture his motor boat. :o)
Friday, May 11, 2007
The lurkers have spoken
Quote of the Day: Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
--Helen Keller
It is now Friday (10:33 PM) on Day 21 and as promised we are back to post. We erased that post if you are confused. We just came back from having a nice meal at the "Milky Way" with a couple from Washington, DC who arrived today. They are very nice and it was great to visit with them. Their translator is one of the ladies who helped out the last time I was here in Ukraine, too! It was great to see her. Strangely, I feel as though I know a lot of people here. ha! We realize how far we have come by seeing a couple here on their first day, where we were not long ago.
Today we began by going on our fourth run this week (it keeps me accountable by telling you if we ran or not- which we did not yesterday because of court.) I have to admit I was not looking forward to it, but was glad once we went. Isn't that how it always is? We then went to work with some of the children with special needs and at 10:15 got to get Lance. Nothing too eventful during our visits today, but they were nice. He continues to mumble more and more. We get very excited every time. Today was comfortable, smooth sailing, not boring, and overall pleasant. The icing on the cake is reading the wonderful comments from all the people we love so much back at home.
It really set in today that we are able to pass on a few things with Lance Ivan Hairston's name. Lance being my maiden name in a family of all girls (daughters and granddaughters.) Some of you may not know but Ivan translates as John in English. This carries his cultural background, and his daddy and his Pa's first name. He will also be the first greatgrandson of A.B. and Mavis to carry on the Hairston name! John Michael is very proud of that.
Tidbits:
- Lance's loyalty to the Ags is not up for debate. ;O)
- Sorry dad, can you explain PTL?
- All this talk about steaks, burgers, and Blue Bell has us jealous here in Ukraine.
- Yeah! It is crazy that I can actually celebrate Mother's Day! Strange and wonderful. Angela, do you feel the same way?
- We enjoy many aspect of the comments, the hilarious comments, the sincerity, and the wisdom. Many of you have posted scripture and it is very encouraging not only to received these words, but to know we have friends and family who know these words.
- Ross and Kate, God has blessed you with wisdom way beyond your years. Thank you for your specific prayers and encouraging words.
- Atleigh, John Michael has not needed the Tabasco sauce near as much as he had expected. It is always good to know it is here, though. Thanks!
- Larry, thanks for making us look back at some of the other posts because there were comments had been added that we had not seen.
- Kym and Amanda, the couple that came today almost didn't come to see this child because of poor medical info in the chart which was not accurate. They had passed up a lot of other children already so decided to see her just to show the government they were trying. Reinforcement that we need to help somehow.
Goodnight (or afternoon there),
JM, Karen and Lance (11:14PM)
--Helen Keller
It is now Friday (10:33 PM) on Day 21 and as promised we are back to post. We erased that post if you are confused. We just came back from having a nice meal at the "Milky Way" with a couple from Washington, DC who arrived today. They are very nice and it was great to visit with them. Their translator is one of the ladies who helped out the last time I was here in Ukraine, too! It was great to see her. Strangely, I feel as though I know a lot of people here. ha! We realize how far we have come by seeing a couple here on their first day, where we were not long ago.
Today we began by going on our fourth run this week (it keeps me accountable by telling you if we ran or not- which we did not yesterday because of court.) I have to admit I was not looking forward to it, but was glad once we went. Isn't that how it always is? We then went to work with some of the children with special needs and at 10:15 got to get Lance. Nothing too eventful during our visits today, but they were nice. He continues to mumble more and more. We get very excited every time. Today was comfortable, smooth sailing, not boring, and overall pleasant. The icing on the cake is reading the wonderful comments from all the people we love so much back at home.
It really set in today that we are able to pass on a few things with Lance Ivan Hairston's name. Lance being my maiden name in a family of all girls (daughters and granddaughters.) Some of you may not know but Ivan translates as John in English. This carries his cultural background, and his daddy and his Pa's first name. He will also be the first greatgrandson of A.B. and Mavis to carry on the Hairston name! John Michael is very proud of that.
Tidbits:
- Lance's loyalty to the Ags is not up for debate. ;O)
- Sorry dad, can you explain PTL?
- All this talk about steaks, burgers, and Blue Bell has us jealous here in Ukraine.
- Yeah! It is crazy that I can actually celebrate Mother's Day! Strange and wonderful. Angela, do you feel the same way?
- We enjoy many aspect of the comments, the hilarious comments, the sincerity, and the wisdom. Many of you have posted scripture and it is very encouraging not only to received these words, but to know we have friends and family who know these words.
- Ross and Kate, God has blessed you with wisdom way beyond your years. Thank you for your specific prayers and encouraging words.
- Atleigh, John Michael has not needed the Tabasco sauce near as much as he had expected. It is always good to know it is here, though. Thanks!
- Larry, thanks for making us look back at some of the other posts because there were comments had been added that we had not seen.
- Kym and Amanda, the couple that came today almost didn't come to see this child because of poor medical info in the chart which was not accurate. They had passed up a lot of other children already so decided to see her just to show the government they were trying. Reinforcement that we need to help somehow.
Goodnight (or afternoon there),
JM, Karen and Lance (11:14PM)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Meet the Parents
Quote of the Day:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty adn you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,....The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
-Mathew 25:35,40
I will have to be quick because Lance is sleeping and we will have to go soon. But we wanted to announce that we are officially the proud parents of Lance Ivan Hairston!!! We are naturally happy about this. Court was scheduled for 9:00AM this morning and ended up being postponed until 11:30. We "passed" :o) and were then told that we would have a 11 day "10 day" wait period because it ends on a Sunday. The law here is that if the 10 day period ends on any day off of work it automatically is moved to the next working day. That was not what we wanted to hear since in our eyes there is no reason, but once we calmed down a little we realized that it only adds one more day. It looks as though we will be moving our plane tickets to May 25th to allow for enough time for paperwork in Kiev. That, of course, is dependent upon there being three spots open on the flights that day. Please keep this in your prayers. We are very excited about our new step today and will be celebrating tonight...I plan lots of junk food. :o) We have to demonstrate our maturity as parents now. hee hee! I think that Lance maybe senses the difference in a way. He is very cuddly today and comes when we call his name much more often. It is probably all in my head. I better run. We might get to write back later, but please don't get upset if we do not. Thanks!!
Love ya,
Karen and JM
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty adn you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,....The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
-Mathew 25:35,40
I will have to be quick because Lance is sleeping and we will have to go soon. But we wanted to announce that we are officially the proud parents of Lance Ivan Hairston!!! We are naturally happy about this. Court was scheduled for 9:00AM this morning and ended up being postponed until 11:30. We "passed" :o) and were then told that we would have a 11 day "10 day" wait period because it ends on a Sunday. The law here is that if the 10 day period ends on any day off of work it automatically is moved to the next working day. That was not what we wanted to hear since in our eyes there is no reason, but once we calmed down a little we realized that it only adds one more day. It looks as though we will be moving our plane tickets to May 25th to allow for enough time for paperwork in Kiev. That, of course, is dependent upon there being three spots open on the flights that day. Please keep this in your prayers. We are very excited about our new step today and will be celebrating tonight...I plan lots of junk food. :o) We have to demonstrate our maturity as parents now. hee hee! I think that Lance maybe senses the difference in a way. He is very cuddly today and comes when we call his name much more often. It is probably all in my head. I better run. We might get to write back later, but please don't get upset if we do not. Thanks!!
Love ya,
Karen and JM
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Preparing for Court
Quote of the Day:
"God sets the lonely in families."
-Psalm 68:6
Hello everyone!
I know that we messed up the posting schedule today. I really didn't have a chance to get in here until now (10:08PM) but I really can't tell you why. I don't remember being very busy with any particular thing. ha! Oh well. There is a little competition for the computer, too. I can't complain when I am not paying, huh? I think sometimes John Michael and I feel bad posting when we really do not have anything new to add. It seems maybe some of you are feeling the same way because the return comments seem to be dwindling. ;O) No really, I understand. Sometimes you begin to feel like a broken record. We really love hearing from you, though, and we think you feel the same so we really try to write at least something to say we are still alive and kicking.
Today, we have noticed that Lance seems to be getting used to the feeding routine and hopefully beginning to realize we are not going to let him go hungry. (Although other families may not think so since he tried to steal another child's food today.) He still became a little upset at the end of meal time, but nothing like previously. As JM said yesterday we are beginning to have naps around 1:45 now instead of 4-6. Whew! I didn't plan on that changing so quickly, but I knew that was going to have to change eventually. God continues to bless us in many (even the smallest) ways. I can't say that I am not ready to be home, but our trip has been exceptionally good so far. Lance has begun to show more interest in me and JM in particular. I know that he has been playing and all, but even now he will do that with a lot of people if they are around long enough. Today he saw me walk in the room and stood up and walked to me with determination. It was a heartwarming experience. I just can't wait for that relationship to blossom even further. Let's see, any new skills today?...oh he is now trying to put his bib on by himself when he comes across it. ha! We live for food at this point.
It was a beautiful morning today for our run. We had great plans to take Lance outside to play, but within 45 minutes the entire sky was filled with clouds once again. It did actually produce some good rain atleast this afternoon. Tonight we went out with Olga and Alex to DaVinci again. Alex has been spoiling us my making dinner every night so we wanted to treat them. Unfortunately, we don't know what to cook here, so going out was our best option. It was nice and we ran into the family from Isreal while we were there.
Tomorrow is the big day. I have not been nervous until tonight. Olga started to mention all the questions that the Judge will ask and we need to be able to answer. Eeek! I'm sure it will be fine, but it still makes me a tad nervous. So, it sounds like we will not be able to see Lance tomorrow. Atleast we will be knocking down one more step...a pretty big one at that. I better wrap this up so I can get my beauty sleep. ha! Kym, I am sure you are laughing since it is so early!
Tidbits:
-Atleigh, it was really nice to hear from you. Congrats on the 7.5 min!!! That is awesome! I can not wait to see it. In fact, I was starting to get concerned that I had not heard from you. Keep up the good work. How is the rolling coming?
-Mom and Dad, it was nice to hear from you today. I can't believe I didn't put the phone up to Lance's ear for you guys to see if he responded. Sorry.
-Kym, Kevin, Amanda, and Jimmie, I was able to see Natasha today. She is darling!
-Everyone else, I say it every time, but you don't understand how much your encouragement means to us!
Love you guys!
Karen and JM
These are two of the rascals being adopted. Victor going to Peru and Olivia will be going to Spain.
One of the many children here waiting to be taken home. She is precious and actually has a twin.
This is our Fussy Face when we think our meal is finished. Little did he know it was not yet complete.
Hmmm...is this my bib? Maybe if I put it on I will trick them into feeding me again!
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
With a Little Help From Our Friends
The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. --Richard Bach
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, an success achieved.
--Helen Keller
Days 17 & 18
As some may have noticed, we sometimes get our spirits down a little and it shows in our posts. Yesterday I got kinda bummed talking and thinking about the process and the wait. However, as it always goes we have our "ups" with our "downs."
We learned that Anna is very close to finishing her process so we asked her to join us for dinner somewhere. The Spainish couple (Carlos and Coral) also joined us at the pizza place that none of the three had been to yet. With all the English/Spanish/Russian speaking and us communicating with the staff, we had a great time. Carlos is especially very animated and not afraid to embarrass himself. We had invited the couple from Israel but "hello" the whole "can't eat any foods made with animal products" belief came into play. Our family has been spending more time with their families in the gym recently also. Everyone is comfortable and we share many things from our cultures with one another. It is a very broadening experience. To recap...Carlos and Coral from Spain adopting Olivia, Anna from Peru adopting crazy Victor, and Michael and Judith from Israel adopting Elielle(spelling?). All of whom speak really good English...the universal language between us all. BTW Kay and Mom...Anna is a Spanish/French translator. Interesting tidbit.
Then, I get back on here and reread some comments and read the new ones and "BAM" I'm back in great spirits regardless that little has changed...except the weather. Cloudy and drizzly once again. I won't trade it for tornadoes however.
I say things like this all the time..."You always have a greater appreciation for the good things in life when you experience the bad." Like waiting 6 years to beat t.u.(WHOOP!), 3 years to finish P.T. school, or 4-6 weeks to be blessed with a son! I have to believe that Boston Red Sox fans have more appreciation for their '05 world series championship than any other fans do for theirs. OK, off of sports.
Preserverance and endurance?.....most definitely! I love those attributes and to hear someone(Kate) say we are examples of those it makes me feel very appreciative and blessed that God is using us in this way. We keep patience and belief in God using Olga and tinkering the powers that be, and we will be fine. We have court Thursday at 9 a.m. and are getting other appointments lined up for afterwards. After Thursday we will switch our departure dates and purchase a ticket for Lance. We will have a clearer picture of "WHEN" after court!
Yesterday was a good day for Lance. Tantrums have subsided and his naps are coming earlier in the day. Maybe getting into a routine?...or Karen has the magic touch! Either way I'm good with it. To clear the waters (something I'm not use to doing...;)Unc) Lance has been fed warm soup-type dishes his whole life. When we fed him room temperature and cold foods he accepted them well. Then we had a warm dish and cold dish together and that is when things went bad. Guess he had a flashback and panicked. All is well now however. He likes all temperatures. Textures and tastes are the issues and will continue to be, probably. We are still working on sounds and still swinging. As always, thanks for the encouragement. Till next time.
Oh, Susan, thanks for the extra nudge in the direction of exercise. I think it was enough to send me into a "I HAVE to do something!" We have run the last two days and plan on continuing. Please keep up the encouragment/motivation so that we are held accountable.
Jennifer, Lance is wearing about 18 months. Some are still a little big, but probably not for long. :o)
JM and Karen.......sorry this is a novel. Ha.
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, an success achieved.
--Helen Keller
Days 17 & 18
As some may have noticed, we sometimes get our spirits down a little and it shows in our posts. Yesterday I got kinda bummed talking and thinking about the process and the wait. However, as it always goes we have our "ups" with our "downs."
We learned that Anna is very close to finishing her process so we asked her to join us for dinner somewhere. The Spainish couple (Carlos and Coral) also joined us at the pizza place that none of the three had been to yet. With all the English/Spanish/Russian speaking and us communicating with the staff, we had a great time. Carlos is especially very animated and not afraid to embarrass himself. We had invited the couple from Israel but "hello" the whole "can't eat any foods made with animal products" belief came into play. Our family has been spending more time with their families in the gym recently also. Everyone is comfortable and we share many things from our cultures with one another. It is a very broadening experience. To recap...Carlos and Coral from Spain adopting Olivia, Anna from Peru adopting crazy Victor, and Michael and Judith from Israel adopting Elielle(spelling?). All of whom speak really good English...the universal language between us all. BTW Kay and Mom...Anna is a Spanish/French translator. Interesting tidbit.
Then, I get back on here and reread some comments and read the new ones and "BAM" I'm back in great spirits regardless that little has changed...except the weather. Cloudy and drizzly once again. I won't trade it for tornadoes however.
I say things like this all the time..."You always have a greater appreciation for the good things in life when you experience the bad." Like waiting 6 years to beat t.u.(WHOOP!), 3 years to finish P.T. school, or 4-6 weeks to be blessed with a son! I have to believe that Boston Red Sox fans have more appreciation for their '05 world series championship than any other fans do for theirs. OK, off of sports.
Preserverance and endurance?.....most definitely! I love those attributes and to hear someone(Kate) say we are examples of those it makes me feel very appreciative and blessed that God is using us in this way. We keep patience and belief in God using Olga and tinkering the powers that be, and we will be fine. We have court Thursday at 9 a.m. and are getting other appointments lined up for afterwards. After Thursday we will switch our departure dates and purchase a ticket for Lance. We will have a clearer picture of "WHEN" after court!
Yesterday was a good day for Lance. Tantrums have subsided and his naps are coming earlier in the day. Maybe getting into a routine?...or Karen has the magic touch! Either way I'm good with it. To clear the waters (something I'm not use to doing...;)Unc) Lance has been fed warm soup-type dishes his whole life. When we fed him room temperature and cold foods he accepted them well. Then we had a warm dish and cold dish together and that is when things went bad. Guess he had a flashback and panicked. All is well now however. He likes all temperatures. Textures and tastes are the issues and will continue to be, probably. We are still working on sounds and still swinging. As always, thanks for the encouragement. Till next time.
Oh, Susan, thanks for the extra nudge in the direction of exercise. I think it was enough to send me into a "I HAVE to do something!" We have run the last two days and plan on continuing. Please keep up the encouragment/motivation so that we are held accountable.
Jennifer, Lance is wearing about 18 months. Some are still a little big, but probably not for long. :o)
JM and Karen.......sorry this is a novel. Ha.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Deep thoughts
One quick note...did we mention there is a dog here, too?!!! That helps ease the home sickness for our dogs a tad. Gotta love dogs!...and 24 hour free internet. hee hee!
Love, Karen
Love, Karen
Its Always Sunny in Kramatorshk...?
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
--James 1:27
Day 16 -This is a verse that we came across several times while considering/planning to adopt. Its always good to see it.
The title today kinda has a double meaning that some of you may get but, I thought about Chris(Unc) when I wrote it. This ones for you Unc. Hope you left Charlotte in good form. Keep getting your updates here...I've got a special video idea in store for you. Ha.
Today is our first full day at Alex and Olga's apartment and "we" are all very comfortable. As Karen said I was happy to be able to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Scrambled eggs is next on the list I think! Right now we are doing some laudry...and we aren't even using the sink!! That's right boyeeh!
Thanks so much once again for the comments. It is good to know the haps on other family events. Makes me think we should have already had some kind of neutral site where we can post text,pics, and videos all the time. Maybe an idea for the future?
Well Lance had a good day yesterday. We went outside for a stroll and a quick run to a store very close to the orphanage. We picked up some baby cereal so we could feed him a warm dish. Today we presented this warm dish along with a cold dish option(which previously was received very well) and "warm" dish moved very quickly past the cold foods on the "I like'em" list. We knew that these Antoshka kids would have food issues and we were proven correctly today. He would cry and throw a semi-fit when he was offered the cold food. We fought a little battle with this today. We tried to make strides in calming him down before we continued to feed him. Patience wore a little thin but, I think it was well worth it. Luckily he has a short memory and didn't cry for long after we stopped eating. Again, another learned characteristic of environment I believe.
We also tried for over an hour to get him to fall asleep yesterday. He fought it for awhile, too. Its too convienent right now to have the time to deal with this. We won't always have so much time to be flexible with his behavior. Guess this is parenting....and I know it will work out fine.
Overall, we are still very happy and enjoying all of our time with Lance. We know the good and bad come together and that the little rough times will always be out weighed by the great blessing this is to us. It always helps to have your support though. Hope you enjoy the pics and we'll try to get another video up sometime...maybe even right side up!!
JM and Karen
Sorry but these pics are out of order and there are complications in me posting them as smoothly as I have in the past. Gotta love not being able to read the page you're posting on!!
--James 1:27
Day 16 -This is a verse that we came across several times while considering/planning to adopt. Its always good to see it.
The title today kinda has a double meaning that some of you may get but, I thought about Chris(Unc) when I wrote it. This ones for you Unc. Hope you left Charlotte in good form. Keep getting your updates here...I've got a special video idea in store for you. Ha.
Today is our first full day at Alex and Olga's apartment and "we" are all very comfortable. As Karen said I was happy to be able to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Scrambled eggs is next on the list I think! Right now we are doing some laudry...and we aren't even using the sink!! That's right boyeeh!
Thanks so much once again for the comments. It is good to know the haps on other family events. Makes me think we should have already had some kind of neutral site where we can post text,pics, and videos all the time. Maybe an idea for the future?
Well Lance had a good day yesterday. We went outside for a stroll and a quick run to a store very close to the orphanage. We picked up some baby cereal so we could feed him a warm dish. Today we presented this warm dish along with a cold dish option(which previously was received very well) and "warm" dish moved very quickly past the cold foods on the "I like'em" list. We knew that these Antoshka kids would have food issues and we were proven correctly today. He would cry and throw a semi-fit when he was offered the cold food. We fought a little battle with this today. We tried to make strides in calming him down before we continued to feed him. Patience wore a little thin but, I think it was well worth it. Luckily he has a short memory and didn't cry for long after we stopped eating. Again, another learned characteristic of environment I believe.
We also tried for over an hour to get him to fall asleep yesterday. He fought it for awhile, too. Its too convienent right now to have the time to deal with this. We won't always have so much time to be flexible with his behavior. Guess this is parenting....and I know it will work out fine.
Overall, we are still very happy and enjoying all of our time with Lance. We know the good and bad come together and that the little rough times will always be out weighed by the great blessing this is to us. It always helps to have your support though. Hope you enjoy the pics and we'll try to get another video up sometime...maybe even right side up!!
JM and Karen
Sorry but these pics are out of order and there are complications in me posting them as smoothly as I have in the past. Gotta love not being able to read the page you're posting on!!
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Quick hello
Hello Everyone!
I am just going to post a quick note and hope to get back here later, too.
Quote for today and yesterday:
1. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. - Goethe
2. Praise to thee,
Oh Lord for all creation,
Give us thankful hearts that we may see,
All the gifts we share and every blessing,
All things, come from thee
--John Rutter, Look at the World
Well, we were beginning to feel like we were in Groundhog Day, but today we made a nice change. We have moved into Olga's and Alex's apartment. It is a nice 4 room apartment. They have been gracious enough to offer us a room that is bigger than our hotel room. They refuse to let us pay anything. They say it is so we can save money. We will figure something out, though. This also means we now have a washer, an oven, stove, clean bathroom, and internet all day long!!! Whew-hoo. It actually feels like a home. We have had a lot of fun and this change is welcomed. We even found a grocery store like at home nearby! (The one we had been using was quite small and limited) We are also closer to the orphange so a car will not be necessary.
Another great thing about today is it is finally sunny and pretty warm. Wow, it is amazing how much that affects my mood. I am sure that JM is happy too, ha! Well, like I said I just wanted to check in real quick. I will try to write again later if there is anything interesting to say.
Oh, I am sure that JM would want to tell you that he made his first Ukrainian grilled cheese sandwich today, awww, warm food without going to a resteraunt!
See you later!
Karen
I am just going to post a quick note and hope to get back here later, too.
Quote for today and yesterday:
1. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. - Goethe
2. Praise to thee,
Oh Lord for all creation,
Give us thankful hearts that we may see,
All the gifts we share and every blessing,
All things, come from thee
--John Rutter, Look at the World
Well, we were beginning to feel like we were in Groundhog Day, but today we made a nice change. We have moved into Olga's and Alex's apartment. It is a nice 4 room apartment. They have been gracious enough to offer us a room that is bigger than our hotel room. They refuse to let us pay anything. They say it is so we can save money. We will figure something out, though. This also means we now have a washer, an oven, stove, clean bathroom, and internet all day long!!! Whew-hoo. It actually feels like a home. We have had a lot of fun and this change is welcomed. We even found a grocery store like at home nearby! (The one we had been using was quite small and limited) We are also closer to the orphange so a car will not be necessary.
Another great thing about today is it is finally sunny and pretty warm. Wow, it is amazing how much that affects my mood. I am sure that JM is happy too, ha! Well, like I said I just wanted to check in real quick. I will try to write again later if there is anything interesting to say.
Oh, I am sure that JM would want to tell you that he made his first Ukrainian grilled cheese sandwich today, awww, warm food without going to a resteraunt!
See you later!
Karen
Thursday, May 3, 2007
The More Amandas the Better
Ugh....we forgot the quote this morning. Please feel free to post your own. We will get one when we return to the room.
The biggest thing to report is that we couldn't get our paperwork yesterday. Alex will get it today and hopefully we can get everything together and have court Tuesday before the Wednesday holiday. I'm not trying to pay attention to the days left so hopefully it will "feel" shorter that way.
For those of you interested in pics of the orphanage (Aunt Judy E) we will take some shots today and get them up soon. I ones we do have already aren't that great. Last night was cool because we went to eat at DaVinci with the couple from Spain. Its helping to share stories and concerns with another couple going through the same process as us. Amanda, I told them about you and Jimmy...Karen says she's sorry she couldn't talk longer. We'll catch ya again.
Since I brought up Amanda let me touch on this people named Amanda gang-posting. Crazy huh. Looks like ya'll will have to specify from now on. Ha. Unless Amanda C talks about Ukraine kids then we know its Amanda C! Cameron Amanda, what is up!? I haven't been called Mickey J in a while. Wonderful to hear from you. Hope you and family are all doing well. We'll shoot you an email sometime. So that leaves the first Amanda. That would be Amanda F correct? Great to hear from all of you.
So once again not a ton of new stuff to report on Lance Ivan. A lot of the same activities yesterday with a ~2 hour nap. We didn't get out yesterday so no walk outside and its cloudy and cold again so probably negative on the walk today too. Just more and more time spent with him is great. I can't imagine what is going through his head though.
-Larry, nice to hear from ya bro. I was so worried about Chris not getting first class. I mean it would have just been torture for him....HA. YEAH RIGHT!! Cool for Unc but I wouldn't have felt sorry for you if you didn't get it....yes, I'm jealous.
-Oma/Opa, are there any more funny dog stories?
Here's to another great day in Ukraine! Dasvidanyah!
The biggest thing to report is that we couldn't get our paperwork yesterday. Alex will get it today and hopefully we can get everything together and have court Tuesday before the Wednesday holiday. I'm not trying to pay attention to the days left so hopefully it will "feel" shorter that way.
For those of you interested in pics of the orphanage (Aunt Judy E) we will take some shots today and get them up soon. I ones we do have already aren't that great. Last night was cool because we went to eat at DaVinci with the couple from Spain. Its helping to share stories and concerns with another couple going through the same process as us. Amanda, I told them about you and Jimmy...Karen says she's sorry she couldn't talk longer. We'll catch ya again.
Since I brought up Amanda let me touch on this people named Amanda gang-posting. Crazy huh. Looks like ya'll will have to specify from now on. Ha. Unless Amanda C talks about Ukraine kids then we know its Amanda C! Cameron Amanda, what is up!? I haven't been called Mickey J in a while. Wonderful to hear from you. Hope you and family are all doing well. We'll shoot you an email sometime. So that leaves the first Amanda. That would be Amanda F correct? Great to hear from all of you.
So once again not a ton of new stuff to report on Lance Ivan. A lot of the same activities yesterday with a ~2 hour nap. We didn't get out yesterday so no walk outside and its cloudy and cold again so probably negative on the walk today too. Just more and more time spent with him is great. I can't imagine what is going through his head though.
-Larry, nice to hear from ya bro. I was so worried about Chris not getting first class. I mean it would have just been torture for him....HA. YEAH RIGHT!! Cool for Unc but I wouldn't have felt sorry for you if you didn't get it....yes, I'm jealous.
-Oma/Opa, are there any more funny dog stories?
Here's to another great day in Ukraine! Dasvidanyah!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
One more down
Quote of the Day:
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
-Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856-1915
Yeah! I'm back (Karen)! I haven't been able to write in a while and for some reason I am pretty excited. I guess I feel like I get to talk to you all. ha! Well, as you can tell things are going rather smoothly here. In fact we are hoping to get the papers that were supposed to come back tomorrow, today instead. If this does happen, it means that we should have court early next week (hopefully Monday.) Wednesday is a holiday again so we need to get it done before then so our 10 day waiting period can begin ASAP. When the 10 days are up we will only have a few days of paperwork and we will finally be on our way HOME. Augh that sounds so good. It is always nice to be home. :o) We can't wait to show Lance his new home and his family and friends. Wow, that will be exciting.
Right now he is adapting well, but we are still needing to introduce new circumstances a little cautiously. The sun, even with cloud cover, is still extremely bright and tiring for our little guy. We tried to eat soup with him there (after we had helped feed him lunch, mind you) and he became very upset trying to get it. I was giving him some, but obviously not fast enough. I think it is too much like the food he receives from the caregivers and he was worried that he wouldn't get his food. It was sad and hard to explain to him. However, with new foods that he is not familiar with, we have not had this problem. He became a little upset when his yogurt was finished, but not too bad. We discovered he might be like his dad with the love of milk. He would drink some then stop and sigh, then continue. Other than food, he is really trusting us and showing his true colors. Let me tell you, he is all boy. It is hilarious. He is now trying to climb up things, loves to play wrestle, and even makes moves as though he is challenging the stuffed toys. It is in a cute manner not truly mean for those who were getting worried. We are still infatuated with swinging hinges on doors and windows, though.
I am not sure if it is us wanting the clothes to fit better or him gaining weight from our continuous feeding trials, but they seem to fit better. We are going to try pinning some of the pants today and see if they won't fall off.
It is sunny today, so we hope to go outside again. Although it is really cold. We heard it snowed in Kiev yesterday. Whew, in May. This is not normal weather for here, either. It shouldn't matter for Lance because he is always wrapped in about 5 layers like the kiddo on Christmas story. We need him to get a little vitamin D from the sun and we need it too. Okay, one more brag on our little guy- he laughed almost all day yesterday. It was fabulous!
Last night we hung out with the couple from Spain for about 1.5 hours. It was really nice. We were even invited to visit them. They have all sorts of ideas on what we could do there. I have to admit we are very tempted. I have always wanted to go to Spain!
tidbits:
-Dad, sorry we didn't expain a little better. We were getting Lance to sign 'more' for the food, not verbalize. He is making a lot more sounds, though.
-Chirs, the family from Tel Aviv is the family with the deaf little girl with the cochlear implant. He is very nice, by the way.
-Munchkin, I a glad to hear you are doing so well. I was wondering if you got caught sneaking to the computer. We do have an A&M shirt (he might fit in next year, hee hee), but definitely need to work on the A&M hat.
-About my 'glow', thanks by the way, it could be from motherhood. It does make me really happy. OR it could be from the bronzing blush I am wearing. ha!!
Love you all!
Karen and John Michael
PS- I need to get back to chasing and lifting all the kids all day. I am losing muscle and gaining...shhhh the bad stuff.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
-Booker Taliaferro Washington, 1856-1915
Yeah! I'm back (Karen)! I haven't been able to write in a while and for some reason I am pretty excited. I guess I feel like I get to talk to you all. ha! Well, as you can tell things are going rather smoothly here. In fact we are hoping to get the papers that were supposed to come back tomorrow, today instead. If this does happen, it means that we should have court early next week (hopefully Monday.) Wednesday is a holiday again so we need to get it done before then so our 10 day waiting period can begin ASAP. When the 10 days are up we will only have a few days of paperwork and we will finally be on our way HOME. Augh that sounds so good. It is always nice to be home. :o) We can't wait to show Lance his new home and his family and friends. Wow, that will be exciting.
Right now he is adapting well, but we are still needing to introduce new circumstances a little cautiously. The sun, even with cloud cover, is still extremely bright and tiring for our little guy. We tried to eat soup with him there (after we had helped feed him lunch, mind you) and he became very upset trying to get it. I was giving him some, but obviously not fast enough. I think it is too much like the food he receives from the caregivers and he was worried that he wouldn't get his food. It was sad and hard to explain to him. However, with new foods that he is not familiar with, we have not had this problem. He became a little upset when his yogurt was finished, but not too bad. We discovered he might be like his dad with the love of milk. He would drink some then stop and sigh, then continue. Other than food, he is really trusting us and showing his true colors. Let me tell you, he is all boy. It is hilarious. He is now trying to climb up things, loves to play wrestle, and even makes moves as though he is challenging the stuffed toys. It is in a cute manner not truly mean for those who were getting worried. We are still infatuated with swinging hinges on doors and windows, though.
I am not sure if it is us wanting the clothes to fit better or him gaining weight from our continuous feeding trials, but they seem to fit better. We are going to try pinning some of the pants today and see if they won't fall off.
It is sunny today, so we hope to go outside again. Although it is really cold. We heard it snowed in Kiev yesterday. Whew, in May. This is not normal weather for here, either. It shouldn't matter for Lance because he is always wrapped in about 5 layers like the kiddo on Christmas story. We need him to get a little vitamin D from the sun and we need it too. Okay, one more brag on our little guy- he laughed almost all day yesterday. It was fabulous!
Last night we hung out with the couple from Spain for about 1.5 hours. It was really nice. We were even invited to visit them. They have all sorts of ideas on what we could do there. I have to admit we are very tempted. I have always wanted to go to Spain!
tidbits:
-Dad, sorry we didn't expain a little better. We were getting Lance to sign 'more' for the food, not verbalize. He is making a lot more sounds, though.
-Chirs, the family from Tel Aviv is the family with the deaf little girl with the cochlear implant. He is very nice, by the way.
-Munchkin, I a glad to hear you are doing so well. I was wondering if you got caught sneaking to the computer. We do have an A&M shirt (he might fit in next year, hee hee), but definitely need to work on the A&M hat.
-About my 'glow', thanks by the way, it could be from motherhood. It does make me really happy. OR it could be from the bronzing blush I am wearing. ha!!
Love you all!
Karen and John Michael
PS- I need to get back to chasing and lifting all the kids all day. I am losing muscle and gaining...shhhh the bad stuff.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Just Another Day in Paradise
"Love and Kindness are never wasted. They always make a difference. They bless the one who receives them, and they bless you, the giver."
Day 12
This has got to be sounding like a broken record but I guess we should just assume that everyday we will experience something new with Lance Ivan these days. We were there today for the first time when he took a nap. Guess we just wore him down over the last two days. He slept very well. Before his nap however we did witness a big out cry....kinda fussy. We did get a few looks. We also picked up some baby foods for him at the store. More new foods being introduced with no problem. And I finally found some jelly...strawberry and p.b. sandwiches are great.
Something that has come to our attention is the Ukraine culture towards children. We think it is more common place for children to be seen and not heard so much. I think it depends on the individual person as to what their true feelings are.
Aunt Judy E - We have pics of the orphanage and caregivers so we'll get some up at some point. Thank you for your interest. Lance Ivan is usually fed with a big spoon kinda shoved in his mouth and then something to drink at the end. It depends...Amanda and Kym could provide more insight here.
Yes, I was wrong about Anna being from Spain. She is most definitely from Peru. Unc got me. To recap the families that are here with us. Spain(Madrid), Peru, Ukraine, and Tel Aviv all being represented now.
DirtyAg, thanks for reminding me about college football. I bet with a new child that time will go by in no time. And maybe we might actually have a few players worthy of getting drafted next year?! I could care less just as long as we keep beating the sips!
Thanks to all once again. So long. And dobray utra or dobray noche depending on where you are at!
JM and Karen
Day 12
This has got to be sounding like a broken record but I guess we should just assume that everyday we will experience something new with Lance Ivan these days. We were there today for the first time when he took a nap. Guess we just wore him down over the last two days. He slept very well. Before his nap however we did witness a big out cry....kinda fussy. We did get a few looks. We also picked up some baby foods for him at the store. More new foods being introduced with no problem. And I finally found some jelly...strawberry and p.b. sandwiches are great.
Something that has come to our attention is the Ukraine culture towards children. We think it is more common place for children to be seen and not heard so much. I think it depends on the individual person as to what their true feelings are.
Aunt Judy E - We have pics of the orphanage and caregivers so we'll get some up at some point. Thank you for your interest. Lance Ivan is usually fed with a big spoon kinda shoved in his mouth and then something to drink at the end. It depends...Amanda and Kym could provide more insight here.
Yes, I was wrong about Anna being from Spain. She is most definitely from Peru. Unc got me. To recap the families that are here with us. Spain(Madrid), Peru, Ukraine, and Tel Aviv all being represented now.
DirtyAg, thanks for reminding me about college football. I bet with a new child that time will go by in no time. And maybe we might actually have a few players worthy of getting drafted next year?! I could care less just as long as we keep beating the sips!
Thanks to all once again. So long. And dobray utra or dobray noche depending on where you are at!
JM and Karen
The "More" Video
Sorry this is on its side. We will make note to correct this in the future. Its better than nothing though huh. At least it isn't upside down.
More Outbreaks!!
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Day 10 Visit 26
I thought today's quote was kinda ironic. I had said at the begininng of this trip that I felt like the path had be beaten and we had an easy trail to follow. Jimmy& Amanda and Kevin & Kym have already been here, done this and provided an easier path for us. This quote relates more to you guys. Thank you so much. Spasiba balshoye! And Susan I really liked the Rodney Dangerfield quote today too...very funny.
As you will see in the pics yesterday was a day of firsts! He did "sign" for more (intentionally) and he was feeding himself with a plastic spoon!!...not to mention Karen. Yogurt is officially on the "I like'em list" and banana is at the top of the list I think. He also was making many more sounds and more often. I'm glad he is keeping us amused....And you!! Ha.
Today is rainy and cold so I guess we'll probably be inside once again. We are really praying for another sunny day soon. So what about these bunnies in our dog house!!?? How crazy is that? Jennifer, you guys do what you will with them. Feed'em or whatever. We won't have the dogs for awhile maybe so we can deal with them once we get back...if they are still there. Unc, glad to see you are making your travels safely and already posting. You are now a haps junkie. Don't worry I'm practicing all my shots! ;) Susan and her German. Ah. Hey, we talked to a Spainard who is adopting from Antoshka. He plays the banjo, loves John Denver, and wants to visit Nashville like crazy. We told him you would be more than willing to accomodate!! Ha ha. I think Larry would like him very much. More than the girl he is adopting so far anyways. Ha. Tim, I always love your comments. You've been steady and always lighten up the blog. Can't wait for Lance to pick up plenty of bad habits from his Uncle's!!
Alright, guess that is it today. I've grown weary of this computer lab....many hiccups today. And when you have computer problems it is hard to translate them. Till next time!!
John Michael and Karen
P.S. We have discovered all the clothes we brought our too big! Ugh. Bittersweet I guess. Oh well, we will make due!
Some of you may recognize the hat and coat in this picture. They both almost fit perfect.
Lance Ivan feeding Karen's eye lash. You can see the yogurt if you look closely! Hilarious.
Messy boy!! Right now...spoon=food. I think this is an okay problem to have.
Told ya....feeding himself.!!
He'd eat the peel if we let him.
Just cute hands behind the back pose.
Physical therapists will know what to do with these. Karen is ready to treat!
Lance Ivan and his buddy Viktor. He is being adopted by a woman from Peru (Editor's correction: I was busted by Unc and Karen on this one. Thanks you two.) (Viktor gave him the cookie.) Antoshka boyz gotta look out for one another ya know. Boooyyeee!!
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
Day 10 Visit 26
I thought today's quote was kinda ironic. I had said at the begininng of this trip that I felt like the path had be beaten and we had an easy trail to follow. Jimmy& Amanda and Kevin & Kym have already been here, done this and provided an easier path for us. This quote relates more to you guys. Thank you so much. Spasiba balshoye! And Susan I really liked the Rodney Dangerfield quote today too...very funny.
As you will see in the pics yesterday was a day of firsts! He did "sign" for more (intentionally) and he was feeding himself with a plastic spoon!!...not to mention Karen. Yogurt is officially on the "I like'em list" and banana is at the top of the list I think. He also was making many more sounds and more often. I'm glad he is keeping us amused....And you!! Ha.
Today is rainy and cold so I guess we'll probably be inside once again. We are really praying for another sunny day soon. So what about these bunnies in our dog house!!?? How crazy is that? Jennifer, you guys do what you will with them. Feed'em or whatever. We won't have the dogs for awhile maybe so we can deal with them once we get back...if they are still there. Unc, glad to see you are making your travels safely and already posting. You are now a haps junkie. Don't worry I'm practicing all my shots! ;) Susan and her German. Ah. Hey, we talked to a Spainard who is adopting from Antoshka. He plays the banjo, loves John Denver, and wants to visit Nashville like crazy. We told him you would be more than willing to accomodate!! Ha ha. I think Larry would like him very much. More than the girl he is adopting so far anyways. Ha. Tim, I always love your comments. You've been steady and always lighten up the blog. Can't wait for Lance to pick up plenty of bad habits from his Uncle's!!
Alright, guess that is it today. I've grown weary of this computer lab....many hiccups today. And when you have computer problems it is hard to translate them. Till next time!!
John Michael and Karen
P.S. We have discovered all the clothes we brought our too big! Ugh. Bittersweet I guess. Oh well, we will make due!
Some of you may recognize the hat and coat in this picture. They both almost fit perfect.
Lance Ivan feeding Karen's eye lash. You can see the yogurt if you look closely! Hilarious.
Messy boy!! Right now...spoon=food. I think this is an okay problem to have.
Told ya....feeding himself.!!
He'd eat the peel if we let him.
Just cute hands behind the back pose.
Physical therapists will know what to do with these. Karen is ready to treat!
Lance Ivan and his buddy Viktor. He is being adopted by a woman from Peru (Editor's correction: I was busted by Unc and Karen on this one. Thanks you two.) (Viktor gave him the cookie.) Antoshka boyz gotta look out for one another ya know. Boooyyeee!!Our Saturday pics...per request
So we wrote a little about our Saturday trip to the soldier memorial and monestary but without pics. Well, here are a few! It was a great day for a little excursion.
Can't recall what the memorial is called exactly but here is a shot of the big monument. This is a memorial to the 5,000-6,000 soldiers that died in this particular war I believe.
All women who enter through the monestary's gates must have their heads covered and not wearing blue jeans or other unacceptable clothing. Articles are convieniently provided....for sale. Doesn't Karen look great here!
Vova, our guide, driver, and friend....and his awesome ride. He is pretty cool to hang out with....and obviously Aggie friendly.
Another shot of Karen with a half of Chris. Sorry, she just looks really beautiful in this pic.
Not exactly sure what part this is....I'll have to do a little research.
This is a shot of the soldier from the monestary. This thing is huge.
Some of the crazy original artwork in the hall entering the church yard.
Just another pic of some of the buildings. This monestary was only like 40 minutes away from us so we still we're able to see Lance Ivan twice on this day. Great day all together!! Chris has many other great shots.
Can't recall what the memorial is called exactly but here is a shot of the big monument. This is a memorial to the 5,000-6,000 soldiers that died in this particular war I believe.
All women who enter through the monestary's gates must have their heads covered and not wearing blue jeans or other unacceptable clothing. Articles are convieniently provided....for sale. Doesn't Karen look great here!
Vova, our guide, driver, and friend....and his awesome ride. He is pretty cool to hang out with....and obviously Aggie friendly.
Another shot of Karen with a half of Chris. Sorry, she just looks really beautiful in this pic.
Not exactly sure what part this is....I'll have to do a little research.
This is a shot of the soldier from the monestary. This thing is huge.
Some of the crazy original artwork in the hall entering the church yard.
Just another pic of some of the buildings. This monestary was only like 40 minutes away from us so we still we're able to see Lance Ivan twice on this day. Great day all together!! Chris has many other great shots.
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