MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

It amazes me that Christmas is already over! The past week was just a blurr for me. I actually collapsed into bed at 10pm Christmas Eve (the earliest I've ever been to bed on Christmas Eve) and announced to Wayne that I never felt this exhausted with our newborns! Of course I must have been but that was at least a decade and a half ago. I'm a bit older now with a larger family and all the added work of the Christmas season has really worn me out. Everything was accomplished on time though. We enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve day with my parents and my precious son and daughter-in-law. They arrived with a very large bundle of silver boxes all tied together with ribbon which turned out to be a gift for ME from all my big kids. I had no idea what it could be, but each box contained a ton of fluffy new bath towels. It was a great idea because we were in desperate need of towels around here. With 9 people showering all the time towels are a precious resource and now we have a beautiful abundance. After our time together we all packed up and headed to the Flach Family Christmas Eve celebration. This includes dinner with Wayne's whole family, his mom reading the Christmas story, prayer, and gifts. It was a wonderful time, but Wayne and I were fried by the end because Slava was over-stimulated and over-tired by the end of it all. His behaviour is improving at home, but new places are whole new worlds to explore for him and he does not sit still for a moment. Therefore, we do not take him to very many new places yet. But Christmas Eve was an exception and we did enjoy our time with our family.

Gram & Pop Flach gave Slava a piano for Christmas. Once he was in bed Papa put it together and set it by the Christmas tree. When Slava got up (and he was the 1st one up) he found that piano and it kept him busy all morning! He loved it and kept saying, "Slava's music-ah". I was able to get my turkey into the oven, enjoy my coffee, and wait for all the other kids to stagger into the living room all while Slava played his little piano.

We enjoyed opening gifts as a family and then around 11am my parents came. Slava received another favorite gift - a little red tricycle. Though he does not peddle it he does ride the thing all over the house. That night he even rode it into his bedroom and parked it next to his bed so it could go "spot" too! Grandmas are priceless!

Each day Slava does make baby-steps of progress in his behaviour. He is bonding with and attaching to us. Mostly he presents as a 2 year old going through the "terrible-twos" only much smarter then a 2 year old. When we have him engaged in playing with us he's great, but left to wander and he's into everything. We make sure one of us is with him at all times and all the doors to all the rooms are locked or gated off. Today while playing a toy bowling game he accidentally dropped the ball on Jordan's head. Jordan took it a little too hard and started crying. While I was trying to comfort him, Slava came over and said, "Jordan, Slava sorry." He kept repeating it, genuinely meaning it though Jordan wasn't too accepting of his apology. Jordan seems to be under some stress with the whole adjustment phase; he could really use some prayer. The other day he'd had it with Slava and stomped off declaring, "I hate kids!"

We've been home a whole month now and thankfully the past 2 weeks have been much better than the first 2. We are confident that God will continue this good work. It still is very challenging though. Today I announced to Sierra that I wished January was over. She pointed out that January had not yet started. I guess I'm just dreading starting up school and juggling Slava. And on Jan 11th Jordan has surgery. I posted before that we won't know until Dr. Carl gets in there if it'll be a routine adjustment which is one over-night or an actual rod replacement which would lead to several nights in the hospital. Usually I stay the night with Jordy, and if it turns out to be just one night we can make due. But we must have a plan in place incase it's more then that. I've been praying about it and we are thinking that if it's more then one night then Wayne will spend the nights in the hospital so I can be home with Slava in the morning when he gets up (at 6am) and then once someone is at the house I will go to the hospital so Wayne can go to work. I'm really hoping the surgery will be just an adjustment. It's just too soon for all that disruption for Slava.

The Lord reminded me today that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). It is not me for I am not able to do this task set before me, it is Christ in me. I give Him all the glory.

Wow, this has been quite the long post. I guess I better post more often instead throwing it all at you at once. Thank you for faithfully following this blog and for your prayers, we do still need them. Have a blessed New Year and we'll keep you posted on our crazy life as we go throughout it.

Rocky-Rocky

This is not a good picture, but this is Jordan (left) & Slava (right) doing Rocky-Rocky.

I tried uploading a video of them, but it wouldn't post, sorry.

Sorry for not posting for a few days. With all the Christmas busy-ness, Slava, and the kids' colds, I've not had the energy to post at night. Slava was not feeling well for a few days with a fever and chills, I figured maybe it was from his shots. It actually helped with the bonding process since he wanted to be cuddled and cared for. Friday night I actually got out for a few hours and took Sierra, Andrii, and Anna to see the new Narnia movie with the Andersons. Slava stayed home with Papa and Jordan. He cried when I left, and I felt so bad...I missed him too which is a good sign that we're all getting attached to each other! Saturday night was special for me because my son and daughter-in-law came for dinner. It's been quite a while since we've had a nice family dinner with all our kids home at the same time. Slava was very tired and actually asked to go spot at 7pm, so we had a couple hours of nice quiet visiting with Wayne Jr. and Kerri.

Slava's English vocabulary continues to grow. He now says: eggs, cheese, carrots, and cookie. He also knows "behave", church, stop, sorry, and school-room. These are all words that he understands and uses correctly. He also repeats everything you ask him to say! And now when I sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, he actually sings it with me...not that he pronounces all the words correctly but it's pretty impressive if you ask me.

Yesterday I started with a cold, so last night I went to bed right after Slava because I knew 6am would come all to soon. The rest was good and today with the kids' help we are managing. Slava continues to make baby steps of improvement each day. We are very thankful that he is bonding with and attaching to us. We pray that He who began this good work in Slava will continue it. I keep reminding myself that just as God placed the stars in the sky exactly where He wanted them, and He knows them by name, He also placed Andrii, Anna, Jordan...and now Slava, in our home exactly where He wants them. He will also give us the grace, strength, and peace to continue in this good work.

"Ko-pot-ee" & "Vacuum"

Slava & his vacuum

Tub Time!

We are rejoicing over the progress Slava is making. Though it's in baby-steps, he does seem to be settling in and bonding with us. He is currently obsessed with taking baths and our vacuum cleaner! Since our first day home he asks to take a "ko-pot-ee" like 100x a day! Of course we limit it to 2x a day mainly because we're desperately trying to keep him busy. We figure that if it was summer-time, he'd be in the pool all day long. Today while I was out with him he asked to take a bath while we were at the doctor's office and at Walmart. Needless to say, he took one as soon as we got home. He is also relentless with our vacuum cleaner. He asks for it (yes, he now says "vacuum") first thing in the morning...at 6am! I just tell him that the vacuum is "spot" (sleep), and so are all the other kids. It wouldn't be so bad if he just vacuumed the floors, but he's really more interested in plugging it in and unplugging it 100x and turning it on and off 100x by pushing the button. I thought I had another brilliant idea by buying him a kid's Dirt Devil battery operated vacuum. He likes to play with that now too, but since it doesn't plug into the wall it's just not as exciting to him. Maybe for Christmas I'll get him a power strip and some lead cords...just kidding! But he'd really rather play with something like that than toys.

Today I took him to see the doctor for his first check up here. He did very well considering he had 3 shots! He only weighs 28 pounds, so the doc wants to see him again in a month to make sure he starts gaining weight. I'm sure he will because he asks to eat constantly. He does not have scoliosis, but of course we will need to see the eye specialist. After his shots he kept holding his arm and saying "boolah" which is his term for boo boo. I kept saying, "I know, I'm sorry." Eventually when he held his arm saying "boolah" he'd also say "Mama, sorry".

He loves riding in the car and behaves rather well when we're out. So today I took a leap and brought him to Walmart! There were some things I needed to get especially this time of year. And he was very good...so good that I added another store to the outing before we headed home. I am so thankful that he loves to go "paka" in Mama's machine-a!

We do still have some issues at home though. He just can't help himself to whacking the dog, or pulling the cat's tail whenever they're in his reach. The dog is about fed up and has started showing her teeth whenever he raises his hand. Slava acts scared for about a second, then laughs and reaches for the dog again. Our most effective discipline is time out on the kitchen stool in the middle of the kitchen floor. This is a spot where Slava can be found quite often during the day. We must also lock all the doors heading down our hallway (the girls rooms, the bathroom, and the laundry room. We have skewers tucked in the wood trim of each door so that we can easily pop the door open when one of us needs to access a room. Slava loves to flush the toilet, the laundry room contains many interesting things including the vacuum, and the girls' rooms are full of trouble that he can get into. We also gate off the end of the hall which leads to the rest of the house. Slava is more like a 2 year old (going through the terrible 2 phase) except he's pretty savvy for a 5yr old in a tiny little body. But I must say for all his naughtiness, our love for him grows each day. And he seems to be more comfortable and trusting with us too.

Yesterday I mailed out our Registration Form for Slava and the Annual Adoption Reports on the other 3 kids. Within 30 days of arriving home with your child you must register them with the Consulate General of Ukraine in NYC. This is just a form with his picture on it which I filled out and sent along with his Ukrainian passport and a copy of the Adoption Decree in the Ukrainian language. From this point on every year until he is 18yrs old, I will have to complete an annual report of his progress and send it to the Consulate as well. And since it will be 4 years ago in January that we brought Andrii, Anna, and Jordan home, I completed their annual reports and sent them as well. I'm thrilled all that paperwork is completed, but then again I just remembered that I still need to do my Quarterly Reports for homeschooling (1st & 2nd quarters)!!!!! So maybe I won't be sending out Christmas cards this year afterall.

Thank you for taking the time to read all this as I babble on about life with Slava. I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this blog, but at least it's theraputic for me to journal this special time in our lives. If you do read it, please leave me a comment because I'd love to hear from you. Good night for now, and may the Lord bless you and keep you.

Slava Went to Church!

It was the first time in 8 weeks that I'd been to church which seems so strange to me. I thought I'd have my emotions under control since I'm not one to cry, however since Ukraine I find my emotions creeping up on me often. I was fine until the worship team began "O Holy Night" that song gets me every time since we were in Ukraine 4 years ago. We sang that song in church on Christmas Eve when my kids were all back home without us. Now whenever I hear it the tears come. Then we did the song "How Great is Our God" and that was it, I was done. Everyone loved meeting Slava and thought he was another Jordan. Since he loves music he did very well during worship, then I took him into the nursery and stayed with him there. He did very well I think because it was a small confined room and he prob felt save. Our house is pretty big with wide open spaces which he is not used to. Also, my pastor's daughter, Laura, was in there and she's been a missionary to Ukraine for over 15 years. She chatted with Slava and he liked talking with her. And he was fine around the little children. I didn't start him in Sunday School yet, I figured the nursery was a good place to start with him until he settles in. There are mostly toddlers in there right now anyway.

Slava's latest obsession is the vacuum cleaner. He can now say "vacuum" and wants to use it all the time. He seems more interested in things that are not toys then in real toys. My mom has an old school dust buster and she just brought it for him to have for a while. At first I though it was a brilliant idea, however now he's got to learn how to wait while it charges. He lets it run so long that it dies out and he gets upset and doesn't understand the wait. It's turning out to be more of a headache than a brilliant idea.

Over all we are seeing mild improvement as he settles in. As I've been reading up on attachment and bonding I can tell he is not suffering from attachment disorder issues, just typical adoption adjustment issues. We are very thankful. We're confident that as the days, weeks, and months wear on that he will bond, adjust, and settle in as well as the other kids have. Andrii (now almost 14), Anna (11), and Jordan (7) all have adjusted amazingly well. It seems as if they've always been part of our family and they've only been here 4 years as of January! When we arrived home with them our house was even under construction as we'd been in the middle of putting an addition on our house prior to going to Ukraine. I seem to have forgotten how difficult it really was in those early days! So this gives us hope that "this too shall pass" and our little guy will be going with the flow in time.

Wednesday Slava will see our pediatrician. I was going to wait until after the holidays since he'd had a physical and blood work prior to coming home. But along with that naughty "peeskah" word he's been indicating that his "Peeskah boo-lah" which means boo boo. I'm not sure what's going on, so we'll see the doc on Wed.

That's it for now. My big kids are baking Christmas cookies and Slava is busy vacuuming. This is shaping up to be a pretty good day!

Slava's Starting to Settle In

Slava playing with his new cube. It was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but we were desperate for something new for him to do.

Yesterday and today have been the best 2 days so far with our Slava. I dusted off a few books from my shelf on attachment and bonding issues. Thankfully he's actually not exhibiting major signs of attachment disorder. But it was good to be reminded of some important aspects of encouraging bonding and attachment. Mainly touch/caresses and making the child feel special. Children in healthy home environments naturally get this as infants and babies from their mother and it contributes to the healthy development of the child in all other areas. But sadly, children who are abandoned as infants, as Slava was, don't get that nurturing love that comes from a mother. Reflecting back on Jordan's early days with us, he was showered with special attention especially since at 3yrs he was very babyish. Also he thrived on caresses, in fact, when we read he still requests Anna to rub his feet! I'd remembered the importance of touch and I've been mindful to lovingly touch and caress him at every opportunity. Initially he wasn't too thrilled, but now he's beginning to come to me for hugs. We had a great experience with a game he actually started last night. He was acting like he was going away and waved "paka" so I acted all sad. After he took a few steps away, he turned, raised his hands in the air (as if to say I'm back) and then I acted all excited and happy. He laughed hysterically. We then continued this game for an hour! He'd wave goodbye and I'd say "paka, bye bye, dosvidanya, see ya later, good bye," he'd even come to me so I could kiss him on the cheek. Then he'd walk away, come back with raised hands and I'd declare "you're back" and get all excited! He loved it. And at one point he had us switch roles and I had to leave and he'd get excited when I jumped back into the room. It was sort of like the ultimate peek-a-boo game. Now he can say "I'm back" and "see ya later" (which actually sounds like see ya lame-o). We've had to play it several times today, but I can tell it's done wonders for bonding.



Slava has also added the words "coffee", "come", "soup" and "Ezra" to his vocabulary. The naughty word has been spoken a few times today, but he seems to be using it less. I just ignore it and distract him with an English word. Our Christmas tree is up and he's not really attacked it like I thought he would. I'm hoping that if he continues to do well we will actually bring him to church this Sunday.



This morning I was reading my Bible and he crawled up onto my lap. He kept pointing to the pages, so I started reading it out loud to him. I was in Ephesians 2, so I read it inserting his name: I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources, He will give Slava mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your heart as you trust in Him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may Slava have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love really is. May you (slava) experience the love of Christ....Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within Slava, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare ask or hope....

When I finished he said, "Da" which means "yes"! I agree, Amen!



So thank you all for your continued prayers. As you can see, they are working. So please, keep them coming! We love you all! God's blessings to you!

God Is So Good To Me

Sunday morning while the rest of the family went to church Anna, Slava & I stayed home. We were visited by our dear friends EJ, Sue, & Carrie who came to bless us before they headed to church themselves. Susan brought her guitar and played some songs for Slava who was enthralled by them. She also brought her wooden nativity set and she and EJ did "Sunday School" with Slava by acting out the Christmas story with the pieces. They also blessed me by bringing Communion so we could share it together. I haven't been to church since mid October, so their whole visit tremendously blessed me. One of the best parts was that Carrie got to meet Slava in person finally. She has been a faithful prayer warrior for him, us, and the whole adoption process for many years now. Often she is up in the night praying for him which worked out great while we were in Ukraine. With the time difference when she was up in the night praying here, we were up in the day walking through the process there! We see Carrie as part of our adoption team and we're very blessed by her friendship and faithfulness. Thank you, Carrie!

Upon their leaving my Mom arrived to help me with Slava and birthday party preparations for Sierra's 14th birthday celebration. It was wonderful seeing family that we haven't seen in many weeks. My mother-in-law also blessed us with a meal to put in the fridge for today which was wonderful because I had to take Slava back to the dentist and I didn't get home until 5pm. He was still complaining about that tooth, so the dentist wanted to finish it today rather than wait. She had to give him a novocain block which made the entire left side of his face numb. But he still screamed so she then had to put him in a papoose in order to actually work on him. I felt so bad for the poor little thing. He slept all the way home in the car which was good because I needed to run into the store for a few things. Thankfully Anna was with me and could stay with the sleeping Slava in the car. When we got home I realized his mouth was full of blood because he'd bit his numb lip. He looked pretty pitiful. I'm so happy his tooth is fixed and now we won't need to go back to the dentist unil February.

Wayne brought our Christmas tree home from work. Typically we make a big family production out of it and all go together out to eat and then either cut it down or buy one already cut. This year, however, we're trying to keep things simple. Andrii helped Wayne set it up and put the star and lights on. Slava was in the mix wanting the "lampas" lights. I had the kids wait until I put him to bed so we could finish putting the decorations on. So now the tree is up and decorated, our nativity is set up, and some other decorations are up too. Maybe, just maybe I'm feeling like I'm in the same month as everybody else. Slava slept until 6:30am so I felt pretty well rested today. And here it is almost 11pm! I'd better get to bed! Good night for now. And please continue praying. Slava is still a busy bundle of energy. Sometimes he listens, but most of the time he doesn't. Training him consumes all of my time and energy. But God is good and Slava is making tiny baby steps of progress.

Home One Week

It's hard to believe that we've been home for 1 week. Thankfully we are seeing some mild improvement in Slava's behavior. We contribute that to answered prayer. Many people are praying for us and for Slava and when he finally falls to sleep at night we pray over him. Our God is faithful. I'd like to share yet another miracle demonstrating God's mercy toward us in this process. The last day we were in Ukraine, Wednesday, we had to go to the American Embassy to finish the paperwork process and have Slava's visa printed into his passport. When we arrived there was another family also waiting for the same thing. They adopted 2 girls, sisters ages 13 & 14. Their process was quite difficult and had been in Ukraine for 8 weeks. We shared stories and were exicted to learn that they were Christians and this adoption brought their family to a total of 8 kids also. They would also be flying home the next day on the same flight from Kiev to Frankfort, so when we left the Embassy with our visa we told them we'd see them at 5am at the airport. Sadly we did not see them and did not know why until I read their blog yesterday. Apparently while they were waiting there was some kind of world-wide computer problem which prevented the Embassy from printing their visas...this must have happened just after we left the Embassy with our visa! The next day being Thanksgiving the Embassy was closed and Friday was the last Friday of the month and the Embassy is always closed on the last Friday of the month. Thankfully someone was working at the Embassy anyway and this family was able to finally pick up their girls' visas and fly home on Saturday. I don't understand why this family had to endure 3 more days after already being

there for 8 weeks. They handled the difficult situation with much grace and left the country with their faith still strong. I am amazed yet again how God moved mightily on our behalf. We left the embassy just before the computer system went down or we would have had to wait 3 more days also. Who would have thought something like that would have happened? But our all knowing God knew and for some reason guided us through so we could come home for Thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord!

Slava has added another word to his English vocabulary: Gram-Ma! This thrills my mom of course. Tomorrow we will have a family birthday party for Sierra which will include some extended family who have not yet met Slava. We've been laying low, except for trips to the dentist, so not many people have met him yet. I will stay home from church with him again tomorrow partly because we don't think he's quite ready for it yet and partly because we don't want to over-stimulate him since the birthday party will be enough.

Well, it's past my bed time now at 9:20pm! I'm really wanting to go curl up with my new book. It's a biography on Aimee Semple McPhearson a turn-of-the century pentecostal revivalist...very interesting! Thank you for your interest in our story and for your continued prayers. Good night!

Back To The Dentist With Slava

Poor little Slava was holding the side of his face this morning which indicated he's still having pain in that tooth. I called the dentist and she had me bring him in at 1pm. We actually had a good, albeit busy, morning with him. My heart broke for him at the dentist though. He cooperated with the x-ray which revealed a very deep cavity right down to the root. He also had some swelling already starting indicating an infection in it. He submitted to the novocain and when he was good and numb the dentist began to drill out the decay. It was packed with food and she tried to pick it out, but that part didn't go so well. He cried so hard and I felt so bad for him. She packed it with a very tiny piece of medicated cotton and put a temporary filling in it. We also got a prescription for an antibiotic to take care of the infection. If we have trouble with it she will finish with a permanent filling on Mon/Tues. But if he does well and the temp filling holds, then we won't go back until the 14th. He slept on the way home from the dentist which was good because Anna watched him in the car while I ran in to the pharmacy for the meds.

He's been very good since we've been home. I'm wondering if the pain from his teeth might have been contributing to some of his poor behavior. Also it seems that in some way the cavity issue may be helping with the bonding process. He wants me and asks for me all the time. He's always saying "peeshly" which I think means "come with me" because he wants me to go with him to some part of the house, usually my bedroom where he likes to sit on my bed and listen to music...and rocky-rocky. Rocky-rocky is the term we fondly use to refer to the rhythmic rocking back and forth that orphanage kids learn to comfort themselves. Last night we had Jordan, Slava, and even Anna in there doing rocky-rocky! Sierra even attempted it this morning! When we first adopted Jordan his rocking sort of disturbed me. Now it's just a part of who he is. He can be found at certain times of the day, in my room rocking to Christian music. And now Slava is right there too. I've come to appreciate and understand rocky-rocky.

So, it seems we are yet again experiencing answer to prayer. But please don't let up on those prayers. We, and especially Slava, still need all the help we can get. God is faithful and we cannot do this without Him.

A Better Day

This morning the pitter patter of Slava's little feet heading into my room didn't happen until 5:58am. Close enough to 6am for me. We actually had a very good morning. He didn't need a single spanking, just a couple of warnings. The battle didn't begun until Mama declared it nap time. We only had an hour until we had to leave for the dentist and most of it was wasted just trying to get him to settle down and be still. He is sooooo smart. He cried to go to the bathroom, so I brought him. He sat for 30 seconds only to declare that he didn't need to go. Then I carried him back to bed and practically sat on top of him to get him to lay still. Then he proclaimed he had to go to the bathroom again. Finally I announced to him "Paka, Mama's machine-a" which means basically bye-bye in Mama's car. This thrilled him and he joyfully got dressed to go. We were 5 minutes down the road when he declared he had to go potty. I did not want to risk a disaster, so I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and took him. He did not go. All the way to the dentist he was insisting he needed to poop. We told him oh well, no toilet. He did not poop at the dentist office either. After Jordan's check up the dentist had me put Slava on my lap in the chair so she could look into his mouth. He was very compliant. The good news is all those black spots I thought were cavities are actually stains. Slava sat still long enough for her to remove some of the stains from his front teeth. The bad news is he has one really bad cavity in one if his bottom back teeth. The dentist couldn't believe he hasn't been complaining of pain because he jumped when she touched that tooth. I find that children who have lived in orphanages tend to have a very high pain tolerance. However, at dinner time he started crying, holding his check on that side, and saying something which we new meant it hurt. I gave him some tylenol and will call the dentist in the morning to see what she wants to do about it.

Dinner time was crazy because he really wanted me (a good sign of bonding), but I didn't want him in the kitchen while I was cooking. He's way too fast and is an accident waiting to happen in the kitchen. Children in the orphanage have their food brought to them in their little room, they never see food prepared or even see the kitchen. He was pretty whiny and needed a spanking for saying the naughty word a few times. He also used the bad word in the car on the way to the dentist. I believe he knew I couldn't do anything about it while I was driving. Like I said, smart kid. Around 7:30 he was chilling out in the laundry basket (he loves to be pulled around in it) and looking pretty sleepy. I put him to bed and he did not put up much of a fuss.

These are the words he knows so far: bye-bye, outside, eat, yogurt, poop, good, and good boy. I sneezed today and he said, "God bless you" in Ukrainian. And with every morsel of food we give him he says "Spa-see-bah" which means thank you. I've been saying "your welcome" instead of "pla-jow-stah". He eats constantly, always asking for kasha & banana. So far he's liked everything I've fed him except pbj. This pleases Anna & Andrii because they do not like it either. He also asks several times a day for a "ko-pot-ee" bath. We try to save bath time for after dinner to pass the time until bed. But with all the rain yesterday he actually took 2 baths, one in the morning and one in the evening. We had to do something to occupy him. It seems like by 10am we've done everything there is to do for constructive play. Yesterday I even brought home some very large lego type blocks in a dump truck. He likes to dump out blocks and then put them in the laundry basket or some kind of container. I try to have the kids take him outside a couple times each day so I can get some things done inside (like Christmas shopping online!).

I'm hoping that Slava will have another good day tomorrow, or at least a good part of the day. He's so much fun and very cute...when he's being good! He's such a tiny peanut too. He's wearing a size 2T-3T. We had fun today pulling out some of Jordan's "baby" clothes. Now Slava has a closet full of clothes to wear!

Thank you for your continued prayers. I was really rejoicing today when we didn't have to chase him as much or correct him as much the first half of the day. It appears he's settling in and God is answering our prayers. We appreciate those of you who will continue to pray for us all as we continue through this process. It's almost 9pm, time for bed! Good Night & God Bless!

An Exhausting Day

Today Mr. Slava was up at 5am and would not go back to sleep. It's a good thing I collapsed into bed at 9pm last night so at least I felt I'd had a good sleep. The day started off pretty well and Jordan and I headed out just after 9am for his dr. appt. He is scheduled for his next surgery mid-January. While I was out I hit up Walmart & the grocery store for much needed supplies. I was so exhausted I felt like I was dragging myself (and Jordy) thru the stores. Melissa had the day off from work so she and the other kids were on Slava duty. My mom came around 1pm to put him in for a nap. She has a good connection with him and got him to sleep for the 2nd day in a row. I got home while he was sleeping and left the groceries to the kids and dropped onto the couch for a 30 minute rest. Grandma had brought him a toy phone that plays music and this kept him occupied for quite a while after he woke up. But then he started in...slamming the phone, dog food went flying and so did his naughty word! The 2 days of ignoring him when he said it only made him say it more! Today I reverted back to soap in his mouth but that led to much spitting as he tried to get it out of his mouth. So I went back to the language he's been responding to best...spanking. I hate doing it and I always follow it up with hugs and love which he seems to receive, but it's the only thing that seems to work. The whole thing is so draining. There are good little moments that do occur during the day. Slava can say "outside" and "eat" and unfortunately "spank". Now I use it as a warning. I can ask him if he wants one and he tells me, "ne-yet, ne-nada" which basically means "no, I don't need one." He is smart and understands. He does a lot of testing of his boundaries therefore we must be consistant. He is very cute and lets me tickle him and play the "slava-lala" game. So we do appear to be bonding which is a good sign.

I do remember being very tired with Jordan but for different reasons. He was busy, but not really naughty. He did however suck his fingers so loudly all night long that it was worse than sleeping in the same room with a snoring husband. So I know that this too shall pass. Please keep praying for us. Today while we were out Jordan actually announced that he missed Slava. I figure that's a pretty good sign, at least he's not asking to send him back! Along with all the work there is much love growing in our hearts for him. And we know that love covers a multitude of sin. God is love.

Well look at the time, it's 9:17pm...past my bedtime! Good Night for now!

Music Tames the Savage Beast

This is the day we picked Slava up from the orphanage. From L to R is one of his care-takers, the assistant director of the orphanage, & Irina. Slava & Jordan are surrounded by some of the children in Slava's groupa.

Sierra & Slava creating musical fusion (Sierra's idea).

Today was a long day, but now that we're at the end of it I somehow feel...encouraged. It's probably from all the prayer going up for us I'm sure. Slava was up and down in the early morning hours most likely from the time difference still. But he really didn't get up until 6:30am and we sat in my bed while he contentedly listened to Papa's I-Pod for about 15 minutes. Then we headed to the kitchen where he placed his order, "Kasha (oatmeal), banana, molako (milk)." Just like that, he listed off what he wanted to eat! Then we preceded to try to follow the routine we started yesterday which did seem to help. He can actually sit and pay attention to a task as long as you get him to sit down and help him with it. Of course the day was full of discipline and correction too. Especially after lunch when I was trying to get him to have some quiet time. We battled it out, but he actually settled down and fell asleep. His first nap since the orphanage! As much as I enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour rest, I was concerned that he wouldn't go to bed early. I did however notice that his behavior was a bit better for the remainder of the day. He also made a new discovery - Sierra's piano. She kept him busy for quite a while as she played and he sat next to her fingering the keys too. He loves music and it seems to soothe him. We're still dealing with his naughty word problem, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe he's really not using it as a bad word but a silly word. When he's in the midst of laughing and having fun he starts saying it. We've decided to ignore the word for a few days to see if, when he doesn't get a reaction from us, maybe he'll stop saying it. Curtis, our 18yr old son, commented that he will most likely forget the word when he loses the rest of his Ukrainian language as he learns more English. I hope so. And he did go to bed rather easily. He actually laid down on the kitchen floor around 7:30pm and said, "spot" (sleep). So we turned on the Ipod, turned off the lights and I laid down with him. He rocked a little and in 10 minutes was sound asleep...no battle at all. I stayed there for a while praying for him and enjoying the moment.

I want to thank Jenn, who commented on my last post. I really needed the encouragement and to know we're not alone. I too have pondered how Slava's behavior with us is much like our behavior towards God while we are lost in sin. But Jesus came to set us free and by His blood we are adopted into God's family. We receive new life and learn and grow as we walk in it.

So we appreciate your continued prayers for Slava and for us. Jordan is still having a tough time. He tends to act up, I guess because his life has now changed almost as much as Slava's. I look forward to the day when they can play together. Slava seems to like Jordan and says his name all the time. Tomorrow I'll go out for a couple hours for a much needed hair appointment. Wednesday Jordan must see Dr. Carl and he's actually due to have surgery again the end of December. My parents offered to come and help while I go out for these appointments. They've been such a big help and we really appreciate it. Today my Mom showed up with a big pot of home made chicken soup. (Thanks, Mom). Thursday Jordan also has an appointment with the pediatric dentist and I'm bringing Slava (and Andrii for help) with us so the dentist can have a look at all those rotten baby teeth. Other then these necessary appointments I don't plan on leaving the house if I can help it. Slava really needs consistantcy and time to settle in.

It's sort of shocking to me that I left for Ukraine in October and now people are buying Christmas trees upon my return. I guess I'll have to do most of my Christmas shopping online and I plan to keep the decorating and other activities at a minimum. My daughter Sierra turned 14 last Wednesday, so we're going to have a "small" family party...small for us is still pretty big for most people though! We are just over joyed to be home even with all this craziness. And the kids are thrilled because their Christmas vacation has already started! Bonding with Slava trumps text books!

One Tough Cookie

Four years ago we brought home 3 children from Ukraine. This week we brought home 1 kid who is 10x more difficult than 3! He is very smart and very manipulative for a pint sized 5 year old. Yesterday was a very difficult day for us. I went to bed last night at 8am after spending part of the evening in tears. Slava hits the floor at 6am and goes nonstop until about 7pm. It's like utter chaos and we cannot let him out of our sight for even a second. Every time we correct him he just laughs at us. I've been crying out to God for wisdom, discernment, and HELP. We cannot do this without Him. Somewhere about 3am this morning while I was trying to get Slava back to sleep, the Lord spoke to my heart: Assume your position of authority and Slava will learn love. It was that simple but it has made a difference already. Also I realized that the first 5 years of Slava's life was regimented with no freedom. Everything and every day was structured right down to when he went to the bathroom. Since we took him from the orphanage he has not had any schedule to speak of and more freedom than he's ever known. These 2 things combined have caused a lot of his bad behavior. So this morning we began to establish a routine within reason. One that will work with our family/school schedule. And we began to make sure that we win every single battle...he must submit to our authority. This is a very draining process but one that must be followed through with. We discovered that he does have a reasonable attention span since he can sit to use markers, play dough, and certain things that we worked with him on.

As I said, he's very smart. Today as I was making him lay down for some quiet time he pulled every trick in the book to get out of it. He asked to go to the bathroom, to eat, and pleaded for help from anyone within ear shot. Then my mom walked into the room to see if I needed any help and he sat up, held out his arms, and cried, "Babushka, Babushka!" As if to say "grandma, help me!" He is one smart, tough cookie! But Mama won this battle because he was not permitted to get up until he sat still long enough to satisfy me.

Tonight I was greatly encouraged by a visit from my Pastor's wife (they have 5 kids adopted from Ukraine) and my friend Laura who was a missionary to Ukraine for many years. For some reason I've been very emotional lately which is quite unusual for me. Their visit and encouragement was a great blessing to me as well as the support from my neighbor, friends, and family. It seems as though we need just as much, if not more, prayer now then we did when we were in Ukraine. Also Jordan is having a tough time of it. So much of our time and attention are going toward Slava and his behavior issue, plus Slava isn't at the point where he's fun for Jordan to play with yet. So please keep him in your prayers too.

WE'RE HOME!!!

Our last night in Ukraine was very challenging with Slava. He has not had a nap since we took him from the orphanage, so he's pretty over stimulated and over tired by the evening. We had to go to the US Embassy to pick up his visa and there we met 2 other Christian families picking up their children's visas too. One family had been there 8 weeks and the other just under 4 like us. We were thrilled to walk out of there knowing the only thing left to do was hop on the plane to come home. Our friends, Stepan & Oksana, stopped by around 7pm to say goodbye. They were able to teach us some important Ukrainian phrases to help us with our wild child. And they confirmed what I'd been suspecting about him. We'd noticed he often said this one word, with a devious smile on his face, and we didn't know what it meant. After a while I started suspecting it was a bad word. And I was right! He was so out of control Wednesday night and nothing we tried seemed to help. Stepan & Oksana both spoke to him and he seemed to understand, but nothing we do (time-outs, stern voice, hand swats) works, he just laughs at us.

We left our apartment at 3am rejoicing that we were going home. Our flight to Frankfurt was only 2 hours long and Missy & Wayne sat next to Slava (we drew straws and they lost....only joking!) Jordan and I sat a few rows back with a woman who was also returning from an adoption, but her husband was bringing their boys home after the 10 day. During that 2 hours I realized that much of Slava's behavior is very similar to Jordan's 4 years ago. Only Jordan wasn't a swear-bear! Well maybe he was but since he was only 3 no one could understand him! Anyway I felt encouraged because Jordy is now a very loving, kind, and gentle (but still busy) boy. The other revelation I had was regarding what to do with his naughty word issue. And I got this idea that maybe good old fashioned soap in the mouth might help. During our 3 hour layover in Frankfurt he decided to use his naughty word (which he repeats several times while looking at us) and since I didn't have soap with me I used an anti-bacterial wipe. He did not like the taste of this! I had Missy explain to him that every time he said that word Mama was going to clean his mouth with it. I sat next to Slava on the 8+hour flight to Washington DC, but Wayne, Missy, and Jordan were just across the isle from us. This turned out to be a blessing because 2 of our tickets were several rows ahead and not even together. The flight attendant had them sit with us in the very last row because she said whoever had those 2 seats probably would prefer to sit farther up and trade with us. But no one ever came so Missy and Jordan stayed with us! I know people were praying for us because Slava did amazingly well the entire trip. When we first boarded in Germany I handed him the ear-phones and showed him the jack and the outlet and I turned on the music. He spent the entire first hour just plugging them in, taking them out, plugging them in, etc. When the meal was served he ate, took his "sleepy cocktail", went to the bathroom, and fell asleep. Well, sleep came after we went about 10 rounds with the bad word and the anti-bacterial wipe. Don't worry, I only wiped a little on his tongue and it was just enough to make a point. Missy reminded him that every time he said it Mama was going to do it. He then slept for 2 hours, woke up and Papa took a turn sitting by him. All in all he did very well. When we landed he asked me "do doma" which means "home?" I had to explain that we had one more air plane to go. When we landed in DC I was concerned that it would be a mad house and all the flights would be delayed because of Thanksgiving. When we arrived at Immigration (to sign in our little immigrant) there were only about 8 people in line in front of us. We flew through there, customs, rechecked our luggage and found our gate very quickly. And the airport was practically empty! During the trip Slava showed signs of bonding with us which is also an answer to prayer. He wanted me to pick him up and when I did I cradled him like a baby. He said "LaLa" which means "baby". So I made up this little song "Slava-LaLa" and he loved it. I had to keep doing it during our layovers and he's still asking for me to sing it. Our flight to Albany was on time and we even arrived 15 minutes early...so early that our family hadn't even arrived at the airport yet! All in all it was an emotional trip. On the flight to DC when I saw the map on the screen which shows the location of our airplane I started to cry. Wayne thought I was overwhelmed with Slava, but I said, "no, look, we're more closer to the US than we are to Europe." And when we landed in DC I must say there's no greater feeling than landing on American soil...plus we could read all the signs at the airport! Thank you all for praying for our flight home! Your prayers were answered! Slava spent the rest of the evening exploring his new home and we ate our Thanksgiving dinner. We had many visitors who were as excited to see Slava as we were to see them. When I laid Slava down in his bed he pretended to be a dog, probably because he met our family pup, Kashi. It didn't take long and he settled right down, started to rock a little bit, and fell sound asleep. I'd asked Andrii if he'd sleep with him because Mom and Dad were so exhausted and we really needed a good night sleep in our own bed. Slava got up around 2:30am to go to the bathroom and we made sure he knew it was NOT time to get up. He went right back to sleep and slept until 6:30am. We all slept well and it was a good thing because Slava was nonstop all day. We've opted to skip the naps and just put him to bed at 7 or 8pm. After a day of exploring, time-outs, lots of eating, some more "anti-bad word" wiping, lots of Slava-LaLa singing, and a bath which his big sister, Anna, enjoyed giving him, he's finally asleep. He barely made it to 7pm. He discovered Papa's I-Pod and head phones and started walking around listening to some good Christian music. He kept announcing "music-a" and even wanted me to sit next to him while he listened. Then he went over to the couch, laid down, and fell sound asleep listening to Third Day. We carried him off to bed and Andrii offered to bunk with him again tonight. They share the same room, but this way if Slava wakes up Andrii will be right there; At least until he gets acclimated. So now I'm off to spend some time with my big kids before I head to bed myself. Jordan is spending the night next-door at the Anderson's. I think he needed a break from the whole thing. Until Slava settles down, learns some English, and learns how to play, it will be hard on Jordan. Jordan so much wants to play with Slava, but Slava doesn't know how to play. So I guess that's yet another prayer request.

We cannot thank you all enough for all of your prayer support every step of the way. I've got more pictures to post and so much more to share. I will continue to blog our adventures for those of you who would like to continue follow it. Good night, and God bless!

It Is Finished!

We finished the process at the American Embassy by picking up Slava's visa and the other documents that we must present at Immigration upon arriving back in the USA. Now we just watch the minutes go sloooowwwwly by as we wait for 3am to come and Slava picks us up one last to take us to the airport. Our flight leaves at 5:30am for a 2 hour flight to Frankfurt via Lufthansa. Then we fly Lufthansa again to Washington DC. From DC we fly United to Albany where whe should arrive at 6:20pm on Thanksgiving Day. Please pray that all flights are on time and we have a clear path home. And pray especially for Slava to travel well. He certainly is a non-stop ball of energy! He loves music though and can keep a beat. We've been putting him in time-outs and he's learning to count to 10 in English. The only problem is he does not listen to us, the more we say "no" the more he laughs. We called Irina last night to ask her what the Ukrainian words are for "no hit". He hits things with other toys, he hits himself, and he's tried to hit us when we try to put him to bed. Ira says that in the orphanage the staff use a loud stern voice when correcting the children and they know to obey. So we've been using the sternest sounding voice we can, but he laughs at us anyway. To a certain extent I remember Jordan being alot like this, so we hope that Slava will learn fast. He can be so cute at times and he's very smart. We just want to get him home so we can really get down to the business of training him.

So this will be our last post from Ukraine. I might be able to post from Frankfort or DC but I cannot promise. But I will post as soon as I can from home! Oh home, how I miss you! We love you all and can't wait to see you all State-side. Thank you for your prayers!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Oh What A Night!

Slava slept through the night with much tossing and turning. I did not sleep through the night because everytime he moved I made sure I had a firm grip on him. He was wide awake at 6am and so were we! Missy made us kasha (oatmeal) for breakfast which was very good. Big Slava & Irina picked us up at 9:30am to go to the American Embassy while Missy & Jordan remained at the apartment for a much needed rest. It felt good to jump the line at the Embassy since we are Americans and had an appt we went right in. We were in and out in 15 minutes with no problem. We just have to go back tomorrow with our medical conclusion and we can pick up Slava's visa. After this trip to the embassy we took Slava to the American Medical Center (we appeared to be the only Americans there). He had a routine check-up since the orphanage took care of all the blood tests for us. They handed us a sealed envelope with the medical conclusion in it which we must give to the embassy. We were back in the apartment by 1pm. After lunch we tried to put Slava down for a nap (in the car he said he wanted one)! Again it took 2 hours and much restraining and he still did not sleep. He laid still for awhile, but never surrendered to sleep. I opted to accept this as enough and let him get up. Jordan suggested he take a "ko-pot-ee" bath because he smelled like the orphanage. Missy asked Slava if he'd take a bath and he gladly said "da" yes. Presently both boys are playing in the tub under Missy's watchful eye. I wasn't so sure we'd need Missy since we're only adopting one child, but Wayne really felt she'd be helpful. Not that I didn't want her to come, I just thought we'd do fine. But she is worth her weight in gold and has earned her traveling expenses and then some! She communicates well with him and can tell us what he is saying most of the time. And I confess, it takes all 3 of us adults to keep up with this 5 year old!

When he's up he's a very busy boy. He can get out of hand, so we've been using time-outs. I'm not thinking spanking will be a good option with him because when we're trying to get him to sleep he hits himself. This is why we've had to restrain him. I know that often orphanages will give children something to help them sleep for naps during the day and at night. I don't know if that was the case with Slava, but I'm wondering if he's used to having something to help him sleep since he cannot seem to settle down on his own. Like I said when he's up, even though he's busy, he is cute and funny. It's just trying to get him to sleep. I have a little something up my sleeve for tonight. We all really need a good nights sleep since we will be leaving the apartment at 2am on Thursday morning (7pm Wed your time) to head to the airport. We are so thankful to finally be coming home, but we are not looking forward to traveling with this child.

So please continue to pray for us. We really need God's wisdom and grace in dealing with Slava. When he's awake he's very much like Jordan was, full of energy and into everything. But Jordan was 3 and Slava is 5. Jordan didn't present as aggressive. We never had to restrain him to get him to sleep. But it's only the 2nd day. And we are praying for him and asking God to help us. Please continue to pray for him and us too. And pray for our flight home too. We thank you all and love you all very much. Slava is out of the tub and on the loose, so I must go!

VICTORY IN JESUS!!!

We picked up our Slava today. He was very excited to go with us. We got to go upstairs to his groupa and we brought him his new clothes. As he was changing, right there in the hallway, he said that his Mama loves him because she brought him new clothes. We snapped some pictures, left a bunch of goodies for his groupa and headed out the door. We returned to the apartment where he explored every square inch.

I left at 4pm with Irina to try to get the passport. Traffic was very heavy due to many roads closed. Ind Sqr is the scene of this huge protest because the govt just raised taxes. It took us an hour just to get to the passport office, then we waited there for over an hour....but we walked out with Slava's passport! Praise God! Then we enjoyed an hour of traffic back. I returned to the apartment and a very exhausted Missy & Wayne. Slava wore them out. He never had his afternoon nap which is mandatory in the orphanage. Now Missy & Wayne are trying to get him to sleep because after this blog post I must complete several documents for the embassy tomorrow morning.

We go to the US Embassy, then the American Medical Center, then back to the Embassy with the medical documents. On Wed we pick up Slava's visa from the Embassy and that is it, mission accomplished. We will be home on Thursday! For Thanksgiving! This is truly a miracle! Thank you to all of you for praying us through this process and home. From this point on the blog posts will be short and sweet because Slava never sits still. I will make sure once we get settled in at home to continue sharing our story. Please continue to pray for the bonding process. Slava seems to do pretty well with us, but he is still very wild. He does not want to settle down and sleep. We are very thankful to have Missy here because she can translate much of what he is saying and talk to him. He is learning English, we are learning Ukrainian. We love you all and our hearts are fulled with thankfulness for your prayers and for our faithful Lord!

A Long But Very Good Day

Today we went to see our Slava in the morning. Missy was a big help with the language and Slava enjoyed her company as well. We shared the little room with a Ukrainian woman who was taking care of a baby about 2 years old with special needs. I don't know if she was them mother coming to visit or if she was maybe going to adopt. I have seen her in the room previously, but this time we shared it the whole time. Thankfully our Slava was pretty well behaved. He enjoyed the bubbles again, a banana, and looking at the picture book. It went pretty well, but if he starts to get wound up, watch out because he has a hard time stopping once he gets started! Missy taught us a new, very helpful word - "tee-ha" which means "quiet"! We use it a lot with Slava!

After the visit our driver, Slava, took us to the Vinetzia on Rusanifka (the YWAM base). Missy was very happy to connect with many people she knows and Jordan enjoyed playing with Stepan & Oksana's little girl. Oksana and I prepared dinner in the big kitchen along with some other ladies. I was mainly in charge of my chicken dish which seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. We were very blessed to meet several Ukrainian dentists and even one American dentist and his wife. There was also an American couple there who just flew in yesterday (on Missy's flight) who are here to adopt a 14 year old boy they've hosted. They had their 10 year old son with them and Jordan enjoyed his company very much. I also enjoyed speaking with a couple lovely Ukrainian gals who are part of the Word of Life base in Kiev. They asked me if I've heard of Word of Life in Schroon Lake! I had no idea that Word of Life had a base here. They do summer camps, winter camps, etc. They were very nice Christian girls. We returned to our apartment very full, very tired, and very blessed.

While we were out Irina called to say she thinks it best that we pick up our Slava tomorrow! They will pick us up at 9:30am and we will go to the store to by cookies, candy, and bananas for Slava's groupa to have a party. Then we will go to Borpka for the last time and pick up our boy! Now we must Slava-proof our apartment! We are very excited and a little nervous. Please pray that all goes well. That he will trust us and feel comfortable with us and not be scared. Also please pray that we get his passport tomorrow...Tuesday morning at the latest. The timing of this will determine if we will be on that plane on Thursday. Please pray for a mighty move of God, again on our behalf. We so much want to come home to our family, 4 weeks is enough! Thank you all so much. We love & miss you and can't wait to be home with you!

Our Daughter, Missy, Arrived in Kiev!

Today we spent a lot of time in the car! At 9:20am Slava picked us up to go to Borpka. We arrived just as our Slava and his groupa were heading out to play. We walked out with them. All the children are always very excited when they see us and one little girl took Jordan by the hand! We play in a seperate part of the playground to have time with just Slava. He enjoyed the swings again and the bubbles were a big hit too. Slava even wanted Wayne to pick him up so he could swat at the ones floating up high. This is a good sign, it shows he's really beginning to trust us. He even sat on my lap for more than 3.5 seconds! When I started to bounce him on my knee he loved it and didn't want me to stop. At one point I was standing up and he came over and told me to "sid-I" - sit! Then he hopped on my lap for another bounce. I also took the opportunity to pray over him while he was on my lap. Two good visits in a row...we are very thankful!

We left Borpka at 11:30am to head to the airport to pick up Missy! We arrived there at 1pm and waited for about an hour. We were thrilled to see her, especially Jordan. He keeps saying, "I love you, Missy". We finally returned to our apt at 3pm and took Missy to "Soho Pizza" and then she and I walked up to the market for some supplies. She's already a big help in the store since in order to purchase milk, butter, cream, and certain other items you must ask the woman behind the counter for them. I usually stumble through, but Missy knew right what to say...in Russian! Jordan was very blessed because dear friends from home sent him some gifts. A huge THANK YOU to Carrie & Gregg for the Legos and the nerf guns! And to Brandon & Lizzy for the cards and candy. Missy also brought us some Ranch dressing which is a basic staple in our house back home! She brought me some good shampoo & conditioner for my hair, but I think it's beyond help. The water here makes my hair like straw!

Tomorrow we will go visit Slava again and then head to the YWAM base for dinner prep. We settled on a chicken recipe that I have, but it calls for blue cheese. They are having a hard time finding it, so we may have to make due with some other kind of cheese. I just hope the chicken turns out delicious and that the doctors will be blessed by the meal. We are looking forward to this time with Oksana & Stepan.

Please continue to pray for us and especially that we get that passport. We have an appointment at the US Embassy on Tuesday at 10am, but we really need that passport! We will either get Slava on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. So please pray for him too. His whole world is about to change which can be scary for a 5 year old. I keep praying that he will trust us and feel comfortable & safe with us. Thank you all for your continued prayer support. We miss you and can't wait to be home for TG!

A Good Visit With Slava...finally!

Last night Irina called from the bus on her way home from a long day of doing battle for us. She didn't give me all the details, she even said she didn't understand it all, but after the tax office giving her a hard time even though they had all info...finally everything was sent to the passport office. Now the central passport office has everything they need to process Slava's passport! Please pray that we have his passport on Monday! The rest of last night we just hung out in the apartment working on our John Bevere Bible study while Jordan got his fill of the Disney channel.

Today Slava picked us up at 9:20am and we headed off to Borpka. It was raining but we were prepared to play with him outside. They let us play in the little room though, thankfully. Big Slava left us to fly solo again, but it went well. Slava was happy to play with an empty play dough can he'd found and was stuffing little blocks into. Then he bounced on the horse and laughed as Jordan and I kicked the little soccer ball back and forth. When he started to get antsy I pulled out my secret weapon - bubbles!!!! I blew bubbles for a half hour straight and emptied the bottle, but he loved it! I would blow bubbles and he and Jordan would try to catch them. Then he wanted Wayne to pick him up so he could catch them. Wayne siezed this opportunity to pray over him while he held him (our other secret weapon)! Then he set in one chair and Jordan sat in another and he would call out "Jordan" for me to blow bubbles at Jordan, and then "Slava" for me to blow bubbles at him. It was a very good visit and we walked out greatly encouraged. I have one more bottle of bubbles for tomorrow too.

Now we are back in the apartment for the rest of this day. We are still waiting to hear from the Embassy. Please pray that we get an appointment with the US Embassy for Tuesday. We're not sure what will happen for tomorrow. Hopefully we will visit Slava in the morning and then go straight to the airport to pick up Missy, please pray for her safe travel.

Last night as I was trying to fall asleep I was listening to my I-Pod. Anyone who knows me knows that though I have hundreds of songs on it, I really only listen to Misty Edwards (ihop) & Kim Walker (Jesus Culture). But somehow this song popped onto my screen that I'd put on my ipod prob a year ago and forgot all about. I don't even know how it came on the screen, but when I played it I was blown away for I knew God was speaking to me. The song "Spirit of the Sovereign God" is from the Brownsville Revival and is basically Isaiah 61. Here is some of it:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to announce that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord's favor has come....

I encourage you to read the whole chapter, it's excellent. Truly the time of the Lord's favor has come!

So please continue to pray for us and the process. We are counting down the days until we are home, it should be less than a week now. But we must have that passport & embassy appointment. We love and miss you all! We can't wait to see you soon. We've been keeping up on news from home and are praying for many of you as we hear of your needs. Please feel free to send us your prayer requests too!

A Day of Rest For Us...

...but not for Irina. She called this morning to say she was very busy running around for us, and she didn't need us with her. Before the passport can be processed the passport office needs to receive certain things from the tax office electronically. Irina took care of it all on her end but she's going back to the tax office to make sure they send it to the passport office. Please pray that it does because we really need that passport on Monday! She also needed Slava as her driver so we will stay put today and not even go to Borpka to see our Slava. I asked her how the trip back in the car was with him. She laughed, but I don't think she was laughing last night. She said the whole time he kept wanting to get out of the car. He doesn't understand and was worried that he was going to have to sleep in the car. He wanted to go back to his bed. He asked to use the bathroom (yeah right, 6 lane highway in bumper to bumper traffic)! She had big Slava pull over and told little Slava...there you go, you must go here if you have to go. Little Slava declined the offer! Then at one point he somehow got the door open, while the car was moving, and gave Ira a heart attack! Somehow he even tore her skirt in the process. Wow! If he can manage all that when they clearly speak his language, what is he going to pull on us when we bring him home? I'm glad he won't be able to open the door on the air plane...I hope! And I'm very glad I packed the children's Benedryl! Night, night Slava...see you in NY!

So we walked up to the market for water & toilet paper. For some reason toilet paper doesn't go as far here. I think they put much less on a roll. We go thru like 1 roll per day and it's just 3 of us! Then we walked to the "macys" store to purchase Slava's coat. The fleece jacket I brought for him will not be warm enough for when we pick him up. All the other clothes I brought from home appear like they will fit him. We ate our main meal of the day in the food court of the underground mall. We've been eating "toast" for breakfast most mornings. We make it by buttering bread and frying it in a pan since there is not a toaster in the apartment. I found some really good jam to put on it too. Friday we will hopefully visit our Slava and then on Saturday we'll visit him in the morning and then pick Missy up at the airport! After we visit him on Sunday we will go to the YWAM base to help Oksana & Stepan. They are preparing a "thank you" dinner for the doctors who volunteer on the dental truck ministry. Oksana called and asked me if I could help her with ideas for something different to prepare for the meal. There will be about 25 people in all at the dinner. I think she figured since I cook for a crowd at home that I'd know what to do! I'm blessed to be able to help, plus my cooking skills are getting a bit rusty! I emailed home for some recipes I think might work if all ingredients are available here. Oksana will purchase all the food, but I will help her prepare it and then we will all eat together. Most of the dentists are from Ukraine, but there is one American dentist and his wife who will be there too. Many of them speak English, so it should be a fun and interesting day. I look forward to the opportunity to serve and bless these people. Please pray that they will enjoy my cooking!

So that's about it for today. I must say it's kind of nice to not have to spend the day in the car! Please keep praying that everything will be in order at the passport office and that we will have Slava's passport on Monday. Pray too that we get that appointment for Tues at the US Embassy, I'm still waiting to here from them. Keep Missy in your prayers too, she will be flying out Friday morning by herself. And of course, keep praying that we will be home on Thursday! Thank you all for your faithfulness to pray for us. As we've said before, we would not do this without you or our faithful Lord. God bless you all! We love and miss you too. We should be home in 1 week!!!!!!!

Our God is an Awesome God!

Today we visited the Notary to make our application for Slava's passport. After that we went to the central passport office in Kiev. Irina went in alone and then came out to say the girl in there is very nice. Another new law requires that we get some document from the passport office in Borpka since that is where Slava's residence is. However, the office is only technically open on Tuesdays! The girl in the passport ofc in Kiev called ahead to her friend in the office in Borpka and she agreed to let Irina into the office and help us. While we waited the hour we enjoyed a nice lunch in a cafe in town. We had Solonka which is a soup with something that looked like little hot dogs cut up in it. It was very good. And then there was this episode of me, Jordan, and the squatty-potty that had us belly laughing but I'll spare you the details! Back at the passport office Irina got our documents. Then we got to pick up our dear little Slava for a whirlwind ride to the central passport office in Kiev for his passport photo. He actually did pretty well in the car. He was thrilled with all the "machinas" on the road and all the "lampas" (lights) since it was getting dark. It probably was his first ride in a car. We got his picture taken for his passport, but then Ira learned that now the application has to have a photo of him on it. So we quickly found a place to take his picture. We had to get his picture taken for his visa anyway so we got that done too. Then since we were in Kiev and it was 5pm rush hour traffic, Ira & Slava dropped us off at our apt and they made the long drive back to Borpka to return our Slava to the orphanage. By this time he was sitting on Ira's lap instead of Papa's. She and big Slava carry much authority since they speak his language. We prayed for them anyway since it will be a long ride back in traffic with a bouncing little boy. The good news is Irina is hopeful that we will have the passport on Monday (please pray that we do)!

Yesterday while Irina was at the tax office she felt like she should stop at the SDA and check the bulletin board where they post important info regarding adoptions. There she learned that very soon international adoption will cease in Ukraine. They urged all families in the country right now to notify their embassy that they are here and at what stage of the process they are in. Ira says we should be fine since we already have our birth certificate and will have our passport soon. But for other families who are not so far along this could be heart breaking news. Luda, another facilitator on our team, currently has an American family who have been here 8 weeks and they are not as far along as we are. This might not be good news for them. Apparently 8 weeks is the new average in country time according to Irina. So we see how God has been moving on our process in ways we did not even know to pray. If we did not come now, we might not have ever been able to adopt our Slava and our kids would not have their biological brother. And God is very merciful to get us out of here in 4 weeks instead of 8. Thank you, Lord!

We contacted the US Embassy to let them know that we are here and almost finished. We requested an appointment with them for Tuesday 11/23 to do the final step in the process so we can then come home! Please pray that we get Slava's passport on Monday and that we can go to the Embassy on Tuesday. Our return flight is scheduled for 5am on Thursday 11/25 and we'd really like to be on it!

Irina does not want us to pick up our Slava until we have his passport. She says there is a family here now who took their little girl right at the end of the 10 day wait and she got sick and has been in the hospital for 3 days. Orphanage children are very regimented and once you take them they get off their sleeping/eating schedules, and the change in diet and all can make them sick. She does not want this to happen to us, so she says to wait. Of course this did not happen when we took our other 3 kids, but we will wait until Monday as Ira suggests. She has been facilitating adoptions for 10 years and before that she was a school teacher. This year she started taking classes at the University because she may need to find a new job soon since adoptions may be shutting down. At lunch today she shared with me her idea of bringing Ukrainian students to America for 2 weeks in the summer to stay with families and learn the culture, and then bringing American kids to Ukraine to do the same. It reminded me very much of what Dawn does with the Japanese exchange program. Not orphans but teenage students with families building relationships with American kids and families. She's excited to talk more about it with me after our adoption. I even volunteered Melissa to help with the program! Oh how I would love to bring my friend Irina to the States for 2 weeks to take care of her as she has so graciously helped us.

Thank you for faithfully praying for us. And we thank our faithful Lord for answering. We are in awe of how He has moved on our behalf through this whole process. God accomplishes His purposes! ...so please keep praying!

Miraculous News!!!

Shortly after I finished the previous blog post, Irina called with very good news. She just obtained the registration/identification number! We got it in less than 1 day when they said it would take 5! God is good and He is moving on our behalf. After talking it over with Irina, and our travel agent, we decided to book our return flight for 11/25, Thanksgiving Day! .....if that's ok with everyone? I mean, the family will have to leave their pumpkin pie and come pick us up in Albany at 6:30pm. We will fly Missy over on 11/19 anyway; we really want her to come.

So keep praying for us. We still have to obtain that passport and we'll know better about that tomorrow. We don't know exactly when we'll get our Slava from the orphanage yet. Honestly we're a little nervous about it, so you can pray about that too. And pray for Melissa to have safe travels too. We can't wait to see her on Saturday! Keep praying us home for Thanksgiving! And thank you all so much for your prayers. I couldn't imagine doing this without all of you behind us and the Good Lord with us! Make sure you check the post below for previous details!

SLAVA JOSEPH FLACH - It's Official!

And we have the court decree and the birth certificate to prove it!

We left our apt at 8am to go to the Judge at 8:30am. They don't open until 9am, but Irina wanted to be first. She went in while we sat in the car. She called our Judge on the phone and she came out and escorted Ira in even before they were open. She waited there 5 hours yesterday for us, I think she deserves to be first today too! We successfully got our signed court decree and headed off to the birth cert office in Borpka. For some reason even Ira does not understand we had to start there even though Slava was born in Vasylkiv and we had to go there. The woman in Borpka was very nice and Ira got her to fill out more of our paperwork so we'd have less to do in Vasylkiv. Ira does not like Vasylkiv, she says it is like they are their own country and make up their own rules. From here we headed to Vasykiv. While we waited for the birth certificate we enjoyed a nice Ukrainian lunch. Then Ira headed back to the birth cert office to pick up the birth cert. She even ended up entering all the information into the computer for the lady in the office to make it faster. We walked out of there with the new birth certificate with Slava's new name and our names as parents. We chose to keep his name "Slava" (actually his birth name was much longer with slava mixed in). But "Slava" means praise/glory in Ukrainian. We chose Joseph for his middle name because of Joseph in the Bible (he was taken from his homeland but God had a plan for his life) plus there's this missionary to Ukraine that we know who we're quite fond of!

We left Vasylkiv and headed back towards Borpka to go to some other government office to do something about changing Slava's name on his registration number (something like a social security #). As with this whole process it's 3 steps forward and 2 steps back. Apparently with the new computerized system this new step was added. We didn't have to do this step 4 years ago. And with their computers there is a little issue with the fact that his new name won't be understoon by the system??? They said it might take 5 days!!! Ira told them she wants it in 1 or 2 days. So we will see. After that, Ira took the subway to the tax office in Kiev and we headed back to the apartment. This tax office step is new also and it's all because the new passport system is all done electronically so everything has to be changed in order and electronically.

Tomorrow we go to the Notary at 9am to make the application for the passport and whatever else is needed. Our heads are spinning with all these steps in the process and all the days being added. We won't know our return date for sure until Ira goes to the passport office tomorrow and we also have to see about that registration number computer issue. Today we have to reschedule our return flights. Originally we were to return home on the 18th, but that will not happen. Ira thinks it's safe to say that it will only be 10 more days at the most and she's trying to get it done in less. But we just don't know. We've decided to send for Melissa. We know she really wants to come and it will bring us great joy to see her and have her here with us. Plus we can use all the extra hands once we take Slava out of the orphanage! We're not sure what day we will actually get him, prob by the end of the week I assume?

So please keep praying for us. It is possible that we could be home on Thanksgiving, for with God all things are possible. Please pray that this registration # issue will only take a day or 2 to resolve and that the passport will take less than 5 days. And then that's it...we're outa here! Well we'll still have to go to the medical clinic and the US Embassy, but that only takes a day or 2 all together.

We did not go to see our Slava today because of all the paperwork. Hopefully we will see him tomorrow, but there will still be alot of paperwork to do then too. So we'll see. We love & miss you all. Thank you for the prayers, we could feel them being answered today.

A Trying Day

We were up and ready at 8am when Irina called to say she'd decided to go straight to the court and see the judge. So we waited. We waited until 2pm when she finally called to say that the Main Judge (not the one who did our hearing but the one whose signature we need) reminded her of the Law which specifies that if the 10th day of the 10 Day Wait lands on a Sunday, then you must wait another day. Like that Sunday didn't even count! Ira knew this law but tried to get it for us a day early which didn't work. We are allowed to have it on Tuesday, so we go tomorrow with Ira to get it. To pass the time waiting to hear from her we walked to TGI Friday's to eat our 1 main meal for the day. It was very good. On the way back we did some grocery shopping at the bigger market for some things we needed that the smaller market near our apartment doesn't have. Everything here is in miniture size compared to home. I can't wait to go to BJ's and stock up on everything in mega-size!

Slava picked us up at 3pm to head to Borpka for our evening visit with our Slava. No one seemed to be around when we got there so Big Slava went looking for the staff. They sent us upstairs to a room where Slava and his groupa must have been doing some class or something. As they all came out the women oggled Jordan and the little children wanted Slava's Mama & Papa. We followed them back downstairs and the whole time all these little 3 and 4 year olds kept chattering about us. We knew because we kept hearing them say "mama" and "papa". Big Slava left us alone in the little room with our rambunctious boy. At first I thought this was good, we've got to learn to fly solo sooner or later. The visit started off well enough. This time I brought a small orange instead of a banana. But as soon as I gave him some, he spit it out, handed it back and said, "kaka." I guess that's a universal word! Ok, no more oranges. He wanted me to pick him up so he could play with the light switch. I was happy to be able to pick him up, but when I put him down he grabbed my hair with both fists and proceeded to pull...hard! The more I tried to loosen his grip and sternly say, "no", "Neyet" the more he laughed. When I finally got loose, I grabbed his little hands and slapped them (not hard but enough to make a point). He laughed some more. I backed off and let Papa take over. Shortly after that he came up behind me, while I was sitting on the floor playing with Jordan, and he pulled my hair again! This time I picked him up and made him sit on my lap which lasted a whole 5 seconds. Jordan and I started rolling a ball back and forth trying to set an example of proper play. After a bit, Slava did sit down and join us. These visits can be so difficult. I feel like he's testing us because I'm sure he cannot get away with pulling the hair of the staff ladies. And when big Slava is with us, if our Slava starts acting up, he corrects him and he obeys. So I think he's testing us and trying to figure us out. We really don't know how much he understands of what's happening. Maybe the aggression is partly because of that too. We just can't wait to get him home on our turf and really begin parenting him. He needs so much love, compassion, and training. At these orphanage visits we have no real control. I feel like I reacted the wrong way maybe by slapping his hands. Now I'm even worried he'll say something to the workers and I'll be in big trouble. Oh how we want that court decree and birth certificate so we can get out of Dodge...er Kiev. We left the orphanage very discouraged, tired, and so very ready to be done with this whole process.

So we ask for more prayer yet again. We really need God's grace to do this, we are at the end of ourselves. We know that God knows our needs (here and home) and though it appears that nothing got accomplished today, we are trusting that our God is moving on our behalf. Please pray that Tuesday will be a successful paperwork day: that we will have favor with the Judge, birth cert office in Vasilkyv, and the passport office. We are trying to not grow weary while doing good, but we can't do that in our own strenth either.

This morning a song we sing in church was running through my mind even though I couldn't remember all the words. I could hear Bruce's voice, the name of the Lord is like a strong tower, the righteous run in and are.......we go out in victory......if someone knows all the words maybe you could email them to me. Thank you.

Beautiful Sunday

Today is a beautiful sunny day in Ukraine. We didn't even need our coats because it was so warm. We had a very nice visit on the playground with Slava this morning. While there I met a family from Virginia also adopting a boy from Slava's orphanage. They are also adopting a boy from another orphange, so these 2 boys will make 7 children for them. My heart feels for this family because they have been here 8 weeks. It sounds like they are having some difficulties similiar to what we went through in Vasylkiv 4 years ago. We will be praying for them. Our visit with Slava was good. We brought a small soccer ball which we actually purchased as a gift for someone (sorry Ezra it will be a bit used). Slava belly laughed every time Papa & Jordan kicked the ball to each other. We were trying to keep Slava low key because when the lady brought him to us she had many insturctions for us (which we couldn't understand) but big Slava translated the best he could. Basically she told us not to let him run around...yeah right!

After the visit we met Irina at the Zoo. Jordan had a great time looking at the animals and riding on some rides. We were disappointed that her son could not meet us, he had some math competition that he was in. The zoo had lots of animals to see, but Ira told us a sad story about it. She said last year several animals, including the elephant, died because someone put poison in their food. She said since the zoo is located right in the city some people would prefer the valuable land be used for something else. Very sad.

We took a taxi back to our apartment. Our taxi driver looked only about 18, but he did a good job. We are very tired from a good busy day and we're settled in for the rest of the day. I questioned Ira as much as possible about the rest of the process. She will pick us up on Monday at 8am so we can go to the Notary to make the application for Slava's passport. Then at 10am we meet the Judge to pick up our court decree (please pray this happens). I asked Ira if we would be home for Thanksgiving on the 25th, she said she will try. She will know better after she speaks to the man in charge of the passport office. She says some things are not possible, but already the impossible has happened for us. I told her that with God all things are possible! She agreed! God has blessed us with a very good team working for us here. We would not want to do this without them.

So please keep praying for us. Specifically that we will get our court decree on Monday, that we will get the birth certificate and other documents asap (like on Tuesday), and for a miracle that the passport would not take 5 days, and that we will be home for Thanksgiving!!!

Thank you & we love you all!

Saturday Swingers!

It finally uploaded this picture for me! Be sure to read the blog post below this one for Saturdays details! We love you all!

Two Days Left to the 10 Day Wait!

I love watching the count-down dwindle down. It seems like time stands still here. We are anxious for it to be Monday so we can begin the marathon week of finishing up the process. Today we went to see Slava in the morning. It was another sunny mild day here, very unusual foro this time of year...but we love it. It makes play-ground time much more enjoyable. Slava was his usual rambunctious self. He loves the swing and slide, but then wants to bang on things with whatever "tools" he can find. We gave him the toy plastic hammer, but this time he broke it beyond repair! We keep taking things away from him when he gets too rough. Sometimes his behaviour is very discouraging, but then I remember what Jordan was like at this point. He was a toy thrower too. In fact, I remember him dumping out a bucket of about a billion legos that Laura sent over to our apartment for Andrii. After Missy & Joc picked them up for the 2nd time we sent that bucket right back to Laura! Then Jordan had this obsession with tipping over this table that was in the "living room" of our apartment. It was about the size of a card table but very heavy. We kept telling him "no"! Finally on the night before we were to fly home he managed to tip that table right over (while I was on the phone home) and smashed his big toe to smithereens! Missy, Joc, and the other 2 kids were at Laura's apartment, so it was just me and Jordan. He screamed so loud and long that I thought for sure the secret police would come take me away and I'd never get home! We couldn't even put his shoe on the next day for the flight home. Now Jordan is a loving, sweet boy. Yes he's a little loud and very busy, but pretty well behaved compared to how he started off. So there is hope for Mr. Slava! Jordan & Big Slava delivered him back upstairs to his groupa at 11:30am. Jordan managed to go where we are not allowed in the orphanage (except that day I chased Slava up there). I wonder if he remembers the place? He doesn't say much.

After we returned to Kiev we walked up to "Souvenier St." for something to do. I enjoy looking at all the stuff, Jordan wants to buy everything he sees, but it pushes Wayne right over the edge. So now we are snug in our apartment at 4pm ready to call this day done. We can't wait to get up in the morning so we can say that it's the last day of the 10 day wait. We will visit Slava again in the morning, and hopefully do something fun with Irina and her family.

We are praying that Monday & Tuesday will be days of great accomplishments in finishing up this process. Please keep praying for us. I hope it's safe to say that we should only be here 1 more week at the most. We really want to be home with our family for Thanksgiving. We love & miss you all so very much. Thank you for your prayers. We would not want to be here without them. Our God is faithful! We would not even attempt this without Him!