James again

Thursday


It is 6 am here in Kyiv, what a peaceful morning so far. Sleeping somewhat better, I think we are getting used to the time difference. We haven’t had much communication with home. With no internet here in the apartment, and such a hassle to pay for it at an internet café, or to have pay for food you don’t want at some other place just to use their wifi. If we do that then it means we have to leave the apartment late, and some around here say not to be out after 10 around this neighborhood. And with the time difference and to make sure Wes is home it is well after midnight here. Sometimes we have to use the café computer which means we can’t skype. So we leave messages to let everyone know we are doing ok and are alive.


What a whirlwind first 3 days. We have met so many other families here to adopt or are in the final stages of their adoption process. We have put faces to names that we have read about. First there was the Nalle Family. What a wonderful Couple Rob and Julia and their son Elijah. They live back east and are here to adopt a Aaron that has already been transferred to the older person institution. What an adventure they have had so far. Keep them in your prayers as they are going to an area that no one has adopted from before. It is very difficult to adopt a child once they have been transferred to an adult institution.


Then there is the Heim family, Scott and Tracy and their daughter Svetlana. They live in Illinois and have been here for a month already and have had some struggles. Scott is great, when we met him we were standing on the sidewalk talking to Rob and Julia and he stopped and asked us if he could help us find something, we all thought great someone who speaks English. Then he asked if we were here to adopt and we all kind of looked at each other like what do we say to that? Then he said he was here too adopt as well. Let me tell ya about Scott, he like walks 10 miles a day and knows this area like the back of his hand. He knew where all the low cost good food places are. We hit it off well and I hope to continue to build our friendship when we are all back in the states.

The Heims

Then we got to meet the Zoromsky family, they adopted Lily, what a doll she is, very independent. Beautiful smile that lights up the world. And the White family they are adopting 3 children from Kyiv. They are in the final waiting period and should be home the first of August. Amazing!

Lillia

The Fritz family, they have encountered one road block after another. Satan has thrown every road block possible in front of them, but God has knocked them down and they will be home in the next week with their 4 children. They adopted Dennis, he is one that we had considered adopting and we are glad he has a great home to go to.

Roc Fritz

We met Dave, he is a missionary in the area we are going too. So we will be leaning on him quite a bit. Watch out Dave! He speaks the language so he may translate for us when possible. Stephanie has got to know his wife Jolene thru email and Facebook.



Then finally we got to meet the McDonald family! Toby and his new son TJ (Misha). They arrived to Kyiv on Wednesday afternoon and actually spent the night here with us. Steph and I got the honor to babysit TJ yesterday afternoon while Toby and Dave went to track down their luggage they had to leave at a hotel while they took care of some final paperwork and appointments so they can go home on Friday.

Toby and TJ

Toby and I have been communicating thru his family’s blog and via Facebook . He has sent us pictures of Zen and told us all about him yesterday. We will be staying in the same apartment he lived in for the last 3 weeks. So he fixed the shower and toilet, he left us a fridge full of food. He said he even left us some fireworks at the apartment. Cool! I get to blow some things up. He said these aren’t like the fireworks we get back home! They are better! We were up late talking, he gave us the names of the people that are in the area that will be willing to translate for us. Where to find the best food, how to communicate, what buses to take to the orphanage. Man he did all the leg for us. Thanks for the help Toby. I owe ya big time. Toby will staying here at apartment after we leave today.


So what have we been doing in our spare time? Well we have walked a couple hundred miles after all we spent time with Scott and man can that guy walk. Then on top of that everything is down the hill. Oh yeah our apartment is at the top of a steep hill. What a way to finish after the day of walking. We have napped a couple of times trying to get used to the time change. We have watched TV. Yeah everything is in Ukraine or Russian. Well you can hear the English in the background with a narrator so to speak translating to Russian. I watched Spartacus in Russian, you know the old movie with Kirk Douglas. Well I tried to figure out if there was a way to change it so it would be English, but I couldn’t read the menu and was afraid to just push buttons in fear of messing up something. So here we are last night talking and having a good time looking at pictures and videos with Toby and we used his internet card and computer. Once again thanks Toby. Well we were talking about the things here in the apartment and the TV was on and I was telling him about how the TV worked and the great channels but there was only like 3 that spoke English. He took the remote pushed a couple of buttons and WALAH the people were speaking English! UGH! Where were you the last 2 days??? He told me the TV at the apartment was already setup to speak English so I could relax!





There is much more to talk about, but I already have a novel started. Maybe I should write a book. Hmmm? We miss the kids at home! I miss my Boo Hoo, Hammy, Fred, Hank, Handsome boy and baby Boo. I miss the older boys too! I am so proud of them for the sacrifice they are making to do their part in this adoption. Chippy - remember to be kind hearted to those little guys, Wes remember who is 3 and who is 19. Don’t get sucked into the argument!


On another note, our baby boy, our first turned 19 on the 12th. It is hard to believe you aren’t a baby anymore. You have turned into a fine young man! We are proud of you and your accomplishments and the accomplishments to come! We are glad to see you grow in your walk with Christ and have seen the changes in you over the past years. We pray for you and know that you are on the right track. Your Mom and I love you and thank you for being our Son! We couldn’t have been blessed with any better first born! We will have cake and ice cream for you when we are all together again.


You will like it here when you get to come next month. Lots of cool things for you to see. Lots of history here!


Ok enough for now. Good night to everyone there and good morning to everyone here! We will try and update by Friday evening. Hopefully we will be able to Skype with the family then too.