So Far, So Good...

Well- All I can say is that we are still standing! We picked up the children on the afternoon of the 22nd and are now in Kiev waiting on our visas. Once we get them, we will be heading home!! The kids are very excited about EVERYTHING! Overstimulated is an understatement. In reality, they have been doing great. They have made the most of difficult situations- driving for 10 hours in a Camry with 7 people, not eating on regular schedules, no naps, car sickness, and the list goes on and on. They are getting used to us and we are getting used to them, but it has been very good. We could not have asked for much more!

Now that the children are officially "ours", we feel a little more confortable sharing some personal insight about them. We were lucky enough to adopt 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. Olivia Hope is is almost 9, Christian Ruslan is almost 8, Daniel Jackson is 4, and Victoria Faith is 3. They are all wonderful and have VERY strong personalities. Each of them is very different in their own ways. Olivia and Christian did an outstanding job in their performance on the 21st. I just cried and cried as they performed. All of their friends each stood up at the end and spoke to us as a family. They talked about how important a family is and how it is a special gift. It was one of the toughest things that I have ever sat through. Even our translator was crying!

Olivia is not so sure about me yet. She loves her papa!! She wants Jerry to help her do everything. She has been the one taking care of the other 3, and she can't quite figure out how she feels about me interrupting that. There are moments when she gets to just be a kid, like everyone else, and that is exactly the way we want it! She is very helpful with the two little ones. Christian is all boy, and can be very silly at times. We will blame that on the age! He loves to jump around, move, and play pretend karate! He is also very technology savy. It doesn't take him long to figure anything out. These two have that most challenging road ahead. They will have to work on their English, and break some habits that have been with them for years. They are good kids and are smart of enough to know what they are going to have to do. (They are not thrilled about having to learn another language to be able to talk to their parents!) The language barrier was probably my biggest underestimation. The kids get very frustrated when you don't understand them and we find ourselves getting frustrated when they don't understand why we are telling them to stop doing something. It is a true challenge and we have created signs that we use when we talk. Jerry and I have also learned a lot of Russian in the past 3 days!!

The Daniel and Victoria are great! Daniel is small for his age but is so much fun. He is very loveable in the mornings. He will tell you that he loves you and he will tell everyone when we has to go to the bathroom! He can also cry louder than anyone I have every heard. He also inconsolable. It is usually over having to go to bed, not being able to turn the lights on and off again, etc. You get the point.... He loves taking baths and that has been a huge relief for me. This was something that Daniel or Victoria had not experienced much because they had been in the orphanage most of their young life. Victoria is a MESS! She is going to be the type of girl that will steal your heart and then stomp on it! She is tough and doesn't take anything off of anyone. Baths with her have been another issue. That is an area that we are working on!! She did much better today, thank goodness. When you ask her for a kiss, she simply sticks out her cheek for you to kiss her. She is very used to being kissed by everyone at the orphanage. She has the type of cheeks that you just want to touch! Her favorite thing today was wearing Jerry's tennis shoes around the apartment. She was hysterical!

We did take the children to McDonald's today. The loved it, of course! This was the first time that I realized that we are an oddity. When we walked into McD's, everyone began staring because we had so many children. We even had people come over to talk to us about them. The children loved the french fries and the sweet and sour sauce that comes with the Chicken McNuggets. The happy meal toys were also a huge hit! Everyone wanted to keep their box, so we marched all of them out in line carrying the happy meal box with their toy in it. It made their day!!

We are glad to be back in Kiev. It feels that a semi-home. We are at least familiar with the streets and where everything is. We are hoping to get the chiildren out in the next couple of days to go see the sights before we leave!

Thank you for all of the prayers! We feel that each of you has played a part in our journey and we hope that you continue to do so. The children in the orphanage that we visited where wonderful, and Jerry and I have picked out several that we would like for people to adopt!!! They were all so precious! They deserve good homes and happy families. Thank you again for you support and interest in our journey. This is truly a life-changing experience in every way!

Amanda