Happy Halloween!!!!

Hope everyone in Winnipeg is enjoying the snow, we do not have any here yet, but it's getting colder and colder every day.

Brad & I went to the open market today and got some shoes and clothes for the kids...we still have lot to get, but it's a start. Brad was having a great time with the ladies trying to get the prices lower. One lady would not budge on a sweater for XXXXX (her) so we did not get it. We refused to pay her price...it was to low. Brad kept saying "Joe would be proud" (my dad).

We went to the orphanage yesterday and today for 4 to 6....as normal. Tonight we went out for soup and tea with P & P again. They drink lots of tea here, I am now drinking green tea....Fiona will be impressed!!!

We went to the orphanage twice Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday we had two injuries. I have been bring a can of cat food to the orphanage with us. The kids love the cats that live at the orphanage. At our morning visit we feed the cats and Nadia was carrying the bid fluffy one and it scratched her nose. It got her on the side of the nose and she was bleeding in two places. So we went in side to her room. All I was thinking was I am not going to send this child back at the end of our visit and have the lady in the room freak out!!! So they put iodine or some kind of disinfectant on all the kids scratches...so she got two blue dots on her nose. She was so embarrassed. She kept hiding her nose and laughing!! I did manage to get a picture...but of course by the time we came back at 4 p.m. she had wiped it all off. Then in our afternoon visit, Brad went to kick the ball and kicked the floor and he thinks he sprained his toe. He is limping around whining. Stasi was rubbing Brad's toe to make it feel better and saying a bunch of stuff in Russian.

We had a big weekend. We went out for Italian food with P & P from the U.S. on Saturday night and then out to play pool. Last night we went out to a cafe with P & P to have a bowl of solanka soup (meat) and visit. It was the first time that we had gone to this cafe and the soup was excellent. We will definitely be going back.

You gotta be pushy!!

We have been taking the bus to and from the orphanage. It's not really a bus, but more like a shuttle size van. It's holds about 15-20 people sitting down and about the same standing up. Trust me, they pack the people on. We got to the bus stop today and we were the only ones their waiting for the 151. It came by and was PACKED. So we waited for the next one, a lady pushed right in front of us and basically ran us over to get on the bust. There was no way the two of us could have squeezed on. So we waited for the next one. Brad flagged the guy down, everyone was rushing for the door, there was no way we were not getting on this one, we had been waiting over 15 minutes and we were by far the first ones there, so we pushed our way one. We are not used to having to do this in Canada, but like they say, when in Rome do as the Romans....so we did. I felt bad....it's not in our nature, but if we hadn't we would have been standing there for hours!

We brought a deck of cards tonight. We played a game that we call pairs. You put the cards up side down, when it's your turn you flip two cards over and try to match up pairs of cards. If they do not match, they get turned back over. We taught the kids how to play. Well Brad and I were stunned. We could not believe how well Stasi did. He has a really good memory.....this is good....but could also be bad. He is going to remember everything we say for the rest of our lives!!!

We are still here and unfortunately we do not have a definite court date yet. But we hope to know later today....we will keep you posted.

Our days are not very exciting. The kids are on holidays this week so we have been visiting them twice a day. We try and stay outside as much as we can. If anyone has any good outdoor games, let us know, we are running out of ideas. We play money in the middle, soccer, badminton, hide and seek, Frisbee, and jump rope. It was quite funny today...there are so many cute kids there, and they all want our attention. When we get to the kids groupa, most of the kids know Brad's name so they are all calling his name, talking to him, shaking his hand. We go outside and eventually more groupas come out. Today Nadia and Brad we playing badminton, a group of kids were watching a cheering for Brad. This adorable little girl was making necklaces out of leaves and at one point I was wearing 3 of them. They made one for Brad, but it did not fit over his head so he was wearing it on his head like a ring of flowers!! Two little boys then thought it was funny to start slapping my butt...I did not!! By that time our kids were sick of the other kids bugging us so we went inside and had our snack, practised our flash cards and they played for a while.

For those of you that are interested, this is what our day consists of...it's very, very exciting;

wake up
shower
eat breakfast in the hotel cafeteria...ok it's not what we would think of as breakfast but they are not that into bacon and eggs
go to orphanage
go to internet
go to grocery store and possibly store
eat a late lunch in room
go to orphanage
go to internet
have snack in room
read or watch movie
go to bed

We have gone out with our American friends a few times and are going out again on Saturday night...we are looking froward to it.

We went back to the orphanage again last night and then went out for supper with our new American friends. We went to an Italian restaurant and had pizza, it was soooo got. Their translator came just when we were finishing eating and then the 5 of us went to play pool. Their translator, Brad & P played Russian pool and P and I visited. It was a nice evening and great to go out with English speaking people.

Nadia loves to play badminton with Brad...she does not want to play with me....I think she thinks I suck at it!!! Which is kind of true. But she always wants to hold my hand and carry my purse when we go inside form outside!! It rained early this morning but the kids wanted to go outside, mainly because she wanted to play badminton (we bring different things every time we go). Brad and Nadia were playing in the yard which is partial sand/mud/concrete. He dived for the birdie and wiped out....boy the kids thought that was hilarious.

And no, there is no beer at McDonald's. There is also no grilled chicken, which is my sandwich of choice!!

Not much is new here. We still don't know what our court date is yet. Y is supposed to call the judge this afternoon to find out when it is. We will let you know.

Yesterday we went to see the kids from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and today we went from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and will go back at 4 p.m. again. Our American friends have been going in the evenings. They were told they do not like us to visit very often because it disrupts the system, but we were not told that so we are going to keep going as often as we can. We have been practising our English with our flash cards, playing badminton, soccer, monkey in the middle and anything else you can do with a ball. We have been bring food everytime we visit. Yogurt drinks, juice boxes, kielbasa, cheese, bread, bananas, anything that we can find that is healthy. We have been bringing meat, fruits and dairy regularly...I don't thing they get very much at the orphanage. Although I must say it's a very, very nice orphanage.

Tonight we are going out for dinner and to play pool with our American friends at 6 when all four of us are done visiting the kids. We are looking forward to it. They are sure nice and it's so nice to have someone to hang out with.

Some more observations;
- we have seen 2 pick up trucks the entire time we have been here
- they LOVE cooking with mushrooms
- they LOVE cooking with cabbage
- they LOVE fish

Driving rules for Kyiv;
1. there are no rules
2. pedestrians do NOT have the right of way
3. if there are 4 lanes, make 5. if your car is small enough, make 6
4. if you are getting tired of waiting on the freeway in the traffic jam (or maybe it's just a very busy street), take the sidewalk
5. people on the sidewalk better get out of the way of the cars on the sidewalk (see rule #2)
6. the lines on the road are for decoration ONLY
7. use your horn LOTS

Rules for driving in Lugansk;
if you are in line for the train, go into the other lane (for the other direction) and go to the front. when the railway crossing arms go up, cross back into your lane and go first

Not much new today. Our paperwork has been submitted and we hope to tomorrow when our court date will be.

We found out this afternoon that they kids are on holidays from school this week so we will start going to see them from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. as well as 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. We are practising English with them everyday. We went through a bunch of food items with them today to see what they like....need to start getting some ideas for home. We have been giving them Flintstones vitamins everyday and they think they are candy....don't know how to explain that they are not and vitamins are not in our book...so they are candy for now!

We figured out today that Nadia seems to like gymnastics. We tried to ask her today if she would like to go to gymnastics when she gets to Canada and she said yes...so we hope that she knows what we are taking about. She said no to swimming, but she may have thought that Brad wanted to know if she could swim. Well she is going for swimming lessons. We strongly believe that every child should know how to swim. They can also not go to my parents in Arizona if they can't swim!!

We went back to the orphanage last night from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. last night and did a puzzle with the kids. She was right into it, but he would wander off and play for a while and then come back to it, but he is a 7 year old boy and she is a 9 year old girl. Boy, can you tell the difference. About 5:30 p.m. the Americans came in from outside with their 2 boys, 5 & 6 and then it was crazy!!!

After we were done our visit we headed out for supper with the American couple. It was a nice restaurant, a good meal and we had great company. It was so nice to be able to talk to someone who is from home and is going through the same thing we are. Don't worry Bob & Susan, you are still our #1 friends in Ukraine!!! we are just not in the same place.

Y came in with her daughter this morning and we went to the circus with them and our two. It was nice to get them out of the orphanage. The kids really enjoyed themselves, we did too....we just had no idea what they were saying at the show. Apparently the clown was really funny....Nadia was laughing her head off. It's was very different that what we would see, no guide wires and the animal activists would have a cow!!

We dropped the kids off at 2:30 and then went back from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. I tried to teach them some more English words, but they just wanted to play soccer and on the jungle jim, I think they were still pumped from the sugar and circus. about 5:30 the Italian woman and her son came in and Stasi went crazy. They were running around like maniacs. Nadia remembers most of what we taught her yesterday and of course they are picking up words as we go along. I hope they learn more soon, Canada and school are just around the corner.

Sorry Loretta and Lesley, we will be flying back via Minneapolis or Chicago, we are flying Northwest. Loretta we will see you at Christmas!!!! Yeah, I am sooo excited you are coming to Manitoba!!!

Congratulations to my e-mail friend Tonya....she has an appointment at the SDA on November 16th.

Happy 40th Birthday to our friend Lyle who turned 40 yesterday.

Hello from Lugansk. Things are going very well here. From what we understand, the way things are supposed to progress!! The kids are great, and the best news is that they want to be adopted!!! They are 9 & 7. A little bit older than what we originally thought that we would adopt, but we are also a bit older too. The 9 year old is very anxious to learn English. We have some flash cards on them that have Russian/Ukrainian/English are are starting to teach them some basic words. She has started taking English in school and can count to 10, she is now working on 11-20. Once she starts speaking more, he will also be more interested. He is a typical boy, all we wants to do is play, run, climb the jungle jim. We were there today from 10:30 to noon and are going back from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. There is also an Italian woman adopting a little boy, her 10 day wait was up yesterday. There is also a couple from the US adopting 2 boys, I believe they are pretty much at the same stage a us. We saw them Thursday night and hope to see them tonight. It's nice to have another couple from "home" to talk to. We are not sure when we are going to court, but are hoping to know next week. Hopefully it will be soon, we are dying to get home. The kids are great and we are enjoying our time with them and here, but it will be nice to be at home.

Yes, the bed sheets are also driving me nuts...note to PAP's, bring pins to pin them to the mattress. You wake up in the morning and they are a big ball!!

We are staying in the Hotel Lugansk. It's very nice! 1000% better than Makeevka. Hot water all the time. Nice bed, fridge, great location. The internet is across the street, and it's a super convenient location.

Thank you again to everyone for the Gilmore Girl updates!

Thanks to everyone for your e-mails and posting, it's so nice to have that connection from home.

For those of you who know my dog, he is staying with my in-laws, and keeping them on their toes. He has been eating their bread (left on the counter), opened the lazy susan in the kitchen and helped himself to a package of Raman noodles, and goes through their garbage for them!!

Happy birthday to our nephew Kaelan who turned 7 on October 18th. We were unable to go to the party, but Benji did and had some chip and dip in our absence!!

Happy anniversary to us. We celebrated 5 years yesterday. We went to Kiev for the day with the kid to go to the doctor for the Canadian medicals for immigration. Tonight we are going to find a restaurant to go to.

Bathroom Update.

I used the wrong one at McDonald’s today, the other girl was taking to long and I almost got stuck in there. I have to admit I started to panic.

I also used one at the nice mall today. It costs 50 kopeck (1/2 a grevna), sorry about the spelling and it did not even have a toilet seat and no one bothered to tell me that you need to take the toilet paper in the stall with you from the main area!!!

We had out appointment today and have another referral for a boy and a girl…unfortunately that is all we are prepared to share right now. We are leaving Kiev tomorrow to travel to the region and will update when possible.

We have had a lazy few days in Kiev. On Friday night we treated our selves to TGIFriday’s for supper. It was pretty good, not as good as in the US. On Saturday we went to Marlinsky Park, it was beautiful. We must have seen 50 brides there. Then later on we went to Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. On Sunday Yana took us to the Market. That was an experience. It was packed. We went to an indoor one as it was raining out. Yana said it was extra busy because of the rain and it was also the weekend. WE took the Metro there, it was pretty much the same as in Chicago, Minneapolis, San Diego and Toronto (the other places we have taken it)…just everything is in Ukrainian.

We forgot to wish our niece Alycia a happy 5th birthday on October 13th. Hope you had a great day. I assume that you are having a party today. Hope you are enjoying your visit with grandma and grandpa.

If you as using the bathroom at McDonald's in Union Square....use the one on the left NOT the right. The handle does not work very well and someone was locked in there today. Thank goodness I happended to use the one on the left that time.

So yesterday we are walking to the main street and this lady was sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. There must have been 40-60 of them flying around. Well everyone knows I am not a fan of birds. Why??? Because they might peck me, or worse poop on me. Well, one pooped on Brad's head...yuck. Actually now it's quite funny. We have been told by Y (facillitaor) and Bob & Susan thaty it means good luck. Well I hope it does. We have another appointment Monday at 10 a.m. 2 a.m. central time so if you are up at 2 a.m., say a special prayer for us!!

So we are dying here...we are missing all the good shows. Can some one e-mail me and let me know what is going on on Gilmore Girls???

We watch the first season of Corner Gas when we need a good dose of home. Thank you to Val and Tony for the DVD....it's good for a laugh. Sorry Saskatchewan!!

To our friends and family, thank you so much for your support, you have no idea how much you have helped. We are now back in Kiev waiting for another appointment, our first referral did not work out. They received applications on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but they are in training today and we have been told to come tomorrow at 9 a.m. The apartment we have is very nice, it even has a washing machine. I did 2 loads last night and 2 today. It is very small.

The past week has been one of the hardest weeks of our life. I am not going to go into great detail…but here it is in a nut shell. We have been in Makeevka (a small village outside of Donetsk) since last Thursday morning. The train ride was….BAD. I would not recommend it, but it is cheap and we will do it again if necessary. We flew back last night…after the past week, I could not face the train. We have been spending time with a little girl (7) and her brother (5). The unfortunate part is that she was hosted by an American family from August 12-31. This trip was still fresh in her mind and the woman calls twice a week. She did not want us to adopt her, she is waiting for this family to come for her. The sad part is that this could take a year, or it may never happen. These people have not even been approved to adopt. Ukraine has not accepted any new applications for the past year. When they start accepting them (hopefully in January) they will be flooded with applications. These people may not come for a year, or possibly ever. What does this mean for these children? They will sit in the orphanage and suffer. The longer they sit there, the more their mental and physical state deteriorates. This woman and her husband believe they are these children's parents and they may never be (no, there have never meet him…he is to young to be hosted). I am appalled by how selfish they are, they are not thinking of the children, but themselves. My heart aches for all the other families that will come visit them, and there will be families. They are in an age group that is in demand and they are healthy. They will go through the same heart ache we did. My heart aches for the little boy who is an innocent bystander….who cried when we left him, he would have gotten on a plane with us on the second day and never looked back. So we go on. We know that there are other children out there who want us to be their parents and we are coming for them.
Makeevka was like living in the past. Our hotel was about 100 years old, our first room had a skeleton key!! We were fortunate enough to have a room with hot water, and yes, we paid extra for it. We have had limited access to the internet, we were only able to send one e-mail the entire time we were there. We were able to read my e-mails, but not Brad's and able to read the comments here. We felt so isolated that we could not contact our friends and family. We have not forgotten about you!! As I said before, it was wonderful to go into my e-mail and our blog and read what had been written. Weather it was support for what we were going through, well wishes, or gossip form the office, it was wonderful!! We are so blessed to have such an amazing family and group of friends.

Our friends Bob and Susan from home have been a life saving. They are in Ukraine as well, but we are not close, but we speak to them daily. It's so nice to have friends from home in the same time zone.

We will update tomorrow and let you know about our appointment.

I will start by answering a few questions.

Loretta - O’Briens Irish Pub does not serve perogies…mainly Irish and American cuisine. We went there on Sunday night to catch some NFL and meet up with our friends from Manitoba. Apparently the English speaking adoption couples hang out there, but we did not see any.

Lee, Treena , Kara & Nolan – The norm is that you loose 10 pounds here. Brad & I are praying that we do, we both need to loose more than that, but it’s a good place to start!! We are doing tons of walking, so that will help as well.

Valerie – It’s gets dark about 7 p.m. and the sun is up about 6 a.m.

Lorne & Kristin – we are working on your list of Ukrainian names!!

We have been spending a lot of time with Bob & Susane, we are going to b sad to leave them today. We have been “hanging” out at McDonald’s in the a.m. people watching and visiting with them. It’s been nice to have friends going through the same thing as us. There are other couples here right now, we have just not meet up with any of them. I am unable to get onto FRUA so I have no idea what else is going on in the adoption world.

Well we are still here in Kiev for the time being.We have been having a great time hanging out with Bob & Susane…I have been making some notes on my thoughts, doings and general info, so here we go....
1. all the woman are skinny
2. the majority of the woman are good looking
3. the men are NOT
4. you need to go to McDonald’s to but something, to the get code on your bill to use the WC (water closet – AKA bathroom). Trust me….it’s a GOOD bathroom
5. ketchup costs $$$ at McDonald’s
6. all the bread is dry
7. there is no healthy menu at McDonald’s
8. our apartment is 5 long blocks from Khreschatyk Blvd, 3.5 of those blocks are uphill!!!
9. Susane chasing her cold medication down with a beer
10. beer is sold on the streets
11. you rarely see a drunk person, but everyone is drinking
12. old men (40+) are with young woman (20’s and younger)
13. washing cloths in the sink
14. all woman were high heels and I mean high and are all dressed up
15. they walk on the cobblestone streets in their heels
16. we do not have even ONE English station on our TV, not even BBC!!
17. they park and drive on the sidewalks…I feel like I am back in Mexico City
18. they are crazy drivers

More to follow.....

And now, for the reason we are here. We had our appointment at noon today. It went well. I was super nervous before the appointment, but Y had us talking about other things on the way, so I forgot about it for a few minutes…I am not going to go into any real details right now, I am going to wait until we meet them and decide to go ahead with the adoption, there are so many things that could change our minds…. We did get a referral for a boy and a girl. We are leaving Kyiv tomorrow on the 7:30 p.a. train and will arrive in Donesk on Friday a.m. at 7…. I know, can you imagine me on a train?? Horrors!! I don’t expect to post until we meet the children and fell confiendt that we are going to precede, or if we decide not to adopt them for what ever reason.

We are here!!! What a crazy place...it's sooo different from home. We arrived yesterday at 11 a.m. Going though customs we had a very nasty lady who yelled at me in Ukranian....Our facilitator Y took us to our flat, that has no washing machine so I washed socks and undies in the sink....aaahhhh! Y took us to get a phone card and some food. We walked back to our appartment and took a nap from 3:30 to 5:30 and then headed to O'Briens Irish Pub for supper with Bob & Susane, our friends from Birds Hill....I am not sure who was more excited to see friends...us or them. Well we have to take off now, so I will write more later...