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
Friday, May 18, 2007
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!!
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