HOME AT LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a wonderful homecoming for our little boy at the airport and at his home last night. Dadouska (sp?) Ken was able to evoke the first smile with his gift of Elmo.

When they arrived, they had been traveling for 19 hours and A.J. had been throwing up on every flight, only sleeping for about 2 hrs total. He was very shy at the airport, but did let Grandma and his Auntie Cindy hold him before needing his Mama.

Once we arrived at his new home, the adrenaline kicked in and he discovered lots of toys, siblings and cousins to play with. We rarely saw him the rest of the evening except when running in and out among the adults wanting to show Mama something he had found. We heard LOTS of giggles from him (he has a cute dimple) as he ran about with the kids.

When the extended family got ready to leave and were giving him hugs and kisses, he picked up his shoes expecting to be the one leaving. He started to cry in Mama's arms when she put his shoes down, because he did not understand what was going on. The language barrier is going to be difficult for a while, but I'm certain he will understand everything in a very short time.

We are truely blessed, and fortunate to have found such a wonderful addition to our family. Thank you to all of you for providing the emotional, prayer and financial support that has helped us reach this wonderful day.

Babouska (sp?) Pam

Final Hours in Kiev!!!

We are about 16 hours away from coming back to the good old USA. We are sooo excited about coming home, seeing our family, and introducing everybody to Andrew, especially a big brother and big sister who have been patient during all of this. It has been a long 7 weeks but it has been well worth it all. The last couple of days have been great. Andrew is such a trooper. We took him to the zoo on Monday. It didn't start off too well, a goose bit him on the finger as he was trying to feed it bread. Then about 5 minutes later we were looking at a bison and the bison came over to us and made a loud snort sound that scared Andrew right our of his pants. So we took a break for a little bit to gain his confidence back. After a while he got used to the animals and had alot of fun. We got to see an elephant eat three bananas, a giraffe eating grass from peoples hands over a fence, and a grizzly bear stand up and scratch his back on a tree. It was also funny to see Andrew eavsdrop on Russian conversation. He probably thinks why is mama and papa speaking this funny language when they can speak this language that I understand? It was a fun experince to have with Andrew. On Tuesday we took Andrew downtown to see the parade and concert for Victory Day ( a celebration on when World War II ended here). We missed the parade but got to see the concert. The concert was full of singers and dancers which was a neat experience to see. Andrew liked the music and had a fun time playing at the playground at the park. We just wanted to thank EVERYBODY who followed our blog and gave us words of encouragement during this 7 week time. We want to especially thank our family members for EVERYTHING they have done for us during this time. We know it takes alot of time and energy to watch two active children while mom and dad are gone. Thank you soo much for your love and commitment during this time. Also thank you church family and friends for all of your emails and support. It is a great feeling to know we have such a great family looking after us and a great GOD who has been with us evey step of the way. Thank you again from the bottom of our hearts. We love you all so dearly.

THE HONEYMOON IS OVER :)

The freedom that Eric and I have had these last several weeks came to an abrupt halt yesterday. We quickly realized that the 5 years that it's been since we've had a 3 year old (since Brandon) has made a huge difference in our energy level! :) But Andrew is a true joy and we are so blessed to officially have him as ours! Yesterday (Friday) was a very long day. Our driver picked us up at 9:30am and from there we had to travel from Kiev to Boyarka to Demidiv (the village where Andrew was born) to get the birth certificate legally changed, naming us as Andrew's legal Mommy and Daddy!! Our last stop was Andrew's orphanage at 5:00pm. We walked in to get him and we were shown to a room to put on the clothes that we had brought him (all of his clothes, shoes, etc. down to his underwear belong to the orphanage and will be used by another child now). Andrew was in terrific spirits for he was fully aware that he was leaving the orphanage with Mama and Papa. We had brought cookies for the other children in Andrew's group but he got very upset when we suggested we go back to his playgroup to pass out cookies and say goodbye. He probably thought he was going to have to stay with his playgroup. So instead, Mommy just went upstairs to hand out the cookies and give final hugs. We couldn't walk out of the door fast enough to leave the orphanage. Andrew was so excited. Our translator told us that he said he is now ready to get in the car and drive to America. :) Luckily there are no cars that go to America because Andrew would never make it that long. After 5 minutes into the car ride back to the apartment, Papa noticed Andrew's pale face and weird look. Papa saved the day with his quick thinking... just as Papa placed a plastic bag in front of him, Andrew let it all out. This unfortunately occured the entire 40 min. ride back to the apartment. It dawned on us that Andrew is not used to riding in cars. This was only his second or third time in a car in his entire life so he is not used to the motion (especially the way people drive around here!) After surviving the car ride back we knew Andrew would be hungry so we took him to his very 1st trip to McDonald's. We got him a happy meal where he liked everything but the soda. (He's never had a carbonated beverage before) He sneered his face at us when trying the soda. Papa got him apple juice as a substitution which he loved. Andrew especially loved the french fries! After dinner we went walked back to the apartment. Andrew admired the moon. He might have never seen it before! When we got back we experienced giving Andrew his 1st bath. He was scared at 1st. We remembered someone telling us that the orphanages usually spray the children with cold water when bathing them. After we reassured Andrew by spraying his little feet that the water was warm, he giggled his way through his bath time. After bath time we had to delay his bedtime because big sister and brother were calling to anxiously talk to Andrew for the first time. During the delay at one point Andrew cleared everything off his bed and tried to crawl under his covers- he was soooo tired! But mean old Mama and Papa intercepted the tired boy and the little guy was a trooper and made it until 11:30pm our time to talk to his siblings. Heather, Brandon and Andrew had an interesting 1st conversation- all in their own languages. :)

SUNDAY IN KIEV

We decided to venture off today and attend a Russian Catholic service. We took the trolley to the cobblestone streets of downtown Kiev and went into St. Andrew's Cathedral (we are quite partial to this church, can you guess why?) We entered into a fascinating experience. There were two priests who were dressed in white robes with a gold cross embroidered on the back. They were standing in the center of the church with a pulpit in front of them with their backs toward everyone. They were holding a Bible and they took turns chanting scripture. Every few minutes a group of 3 who was standing off to the side would chant in response to what the priest said. The chanting was very melodic and was actually very beautiful to listen to even though we didn't understand a lick of what they were saying. There were candles lit everywhere and it was very reverent. People would come in and out during the service and most of the women had scarves on their heads as a sign of respect. The crowd would follow the lead of the priest and every so often do the sign of the cross across their chest. It was a really neat experience.

The Ukrainian holiday similar to our Labor Day is celebrated this Monday and Tuesday. So, once again, all businesses and government buildings will be closed. Luckily, it won't delay us anymore than we already are because we are in our mandatory 10 day waiting period after the court date and Monday and Tuesday will still count towards our 10 day wait. We will be able to pick Andrew up from the orphanage on Friday (May 5th). We are so excited to have him with us and bring him home. Heather and Brandon say they have waited long enough!!! Andrew's caregivers at the orphanage have been preparing him by telling him he is going home to America with Mama and Papa but of course he has no concept of time to know when. As we were leaving him yesterday after our visit, he was pointing towards the doors and saying something very passionately in Russian. He was ready to leave with us then. It is so heartbreaking when we have to leave him after our fun visits. We will say to him "Mama, Papa bishlee" (time for Mama, Papa to go). He brings his little hands up to his face to cover his eyes and his smile turns into a big sad frown. As the tears start to fall he manages to give us hugs and kisses goodbye as his caregivers tell him that we will be back. On a brighter note, we had such fun with him yesterday (Friday). Since he has down pat recongnizing the names and pictures of our family members, we are trying to teach him some English. We would point to an object and say the English word for it. He would say "Nyet" (no) and then say the word in Russian to correct us as if we have it all wrong. :) He'll get the hang of it. He is such a smart boy. Once we pull him out of the orphanage and he's not around Russian all of the time, he'll pick English up in a jiffy (at least that is what we have been told). After very short "English lessons" (due to the little guy's very short attention span) Eric chased Andrew around a little play hut. Andrew was giggling so hard that he literally fell backwards and bumped his head on a table on the way down. As a nervous mommy rushed over to help, Andrew didn't miss a beat in his giggling as I helped him up. He is such a happy boy.

DOWNHILL FROM HERE!!!

For those of you who thought we were becoming permanent residents of Ukraine...... we got the official word today that we will be done will all paperwork on Wednesday, May 10th. THAT MEANS HERE COMES THE GOOD OLD USA ON MAY 11TH!!!!!!!! ON THAT DAY WE WILL BE COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We can't hardly wait to come home. We never imagined we would be here nearly this long. We never imagined how homesick we could be. You all have no idea how much you have helped us with your words of encouragement and prayers lifted up for us. We truly could not have gotten through these 7 weeks without them. Thank you so much for all of your support during this very hard time.
We really got brave today and decided to try out the trolley system here. It costs 50 kopecks (10 cents) each to ride and it took us to downtown Kiev. We have been so fearful to ride the trolley thinking if we got lost or got off at the wrong stop, we would have no way of asking someone where our apartment is. But our missionary friend was just a cell phone call away so we decided to go for it!! It was quite the adventure. Everyone was crammed into the trolley and with the weather getting warmer, we don't have to describe the scents for you. Everytime the trolley stopped, it was like a herd of cows getting off the trolley with another herd getting on. It's suprising to me people can even get on or off because nobody gives way. We need to teach them southern hospitality I guess. No manners around these neck of the woods. Anyway the experience was one for the books and we are very comfortable with the trolleys here, now the metro is another mountain which we don't want to climb.

Andrew's Sizes

Several of you have asked about Andrew's sizes, so Karen asked me to post them for her. Most clothing will probably be 3T, although some 2T are fitting right now. His foot length is approximately 5 1/2", and is wearing a Euro 25 and I think that translates into an 8 or 8 1/2 in U.S. sizes.

Grandma Pam

WE OFFICIALLY HAVE ANOTHER SON!!!!!

ANDREW JAMES IS A LEGAL LEIGH!!!!!!!!!! HE IS OURS UNDER THE UKRANIAN LAW!!!!!!!!! WE ARE SOOOOOO BLESSED AND FILLED WITH JOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE JOINS BIG SISTER, HEATHER AND BIG BROTHER, BRANDON.
Our court day was somewhat of a big joke. We arrived at the courthouse at 1:45 only to find out that the judge had left in the morning due to sickness. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited, and waited (get the point?) for 3 HOURS in the tiny car until she finally arrived at 4:45. The court session itself lasted only 5 minutes ( kind of reminded us of waiting in line for hours to get on a Disney ride which lasts only 5 minutes- no fast passes here). We were escorted into the judges office and sat in chairs next to her desk. In this small room was the judge, 2 witnesses (one taking notes), our translator, and us. We had to state our full names, ages, our address, employment, and what we were asking of the court. The judge asked us if we had made contact with the boy and if we liked him. In reply, we said WE LOVE HIM!!!!!! And that's all she wrote.
Today (Wednesday) we got to see Andrew for the first time in a week!!! (long frustrating story, not worth getting into) We were thrilled that he still remembered us after such a long absence. He had a big dimpled grin for us as we greeted him. He even remembered the family pictures that we have been showing him all along and could even point to the correct people without any prompting!! We were calling him Andrew today since that is his legal name now. He would give us a big grin and say "Nyet, Andrew" (not Andrew) "Igor !!" We got a kick out of that!! By the end of our time with him we was responding to "Andrew".

GOD WALKS BEFORE US

We have been amazed in the past few days as we have found out some information revealing that God's hand has been in this process long before He laid it on our hearts to adopt. God walked before us a few years ago to pave the way for what is happening now. Andrew has been at the Boyacka orphanage since birth. Ever since our first visit to see Andrew, Eric and I have commented on how clean the orphanage is and how it is equipped with such nice new toys, furniture, bedding etc. We had since gotten in touch with the Nazarene Missionaries here and have spent alot of time with them.(They have graciously taken us under their wing and looked after us) During one of our many conversations we have had with them, they casually asked us which orphanage Andrew is in.(There are hundreds in the Kiev area alone) We said Boyacka. They replied in astonishment "BOYACKA?!" We didn't know what the big deal was until they revealed that this is the same orphanage that their local Nazarene church supports!!! They go out there once a month for a "hold and witness" and supply them with finances. So, in essence our extended Nazarene church family has been taking care of and providing for our son since day 1. That is so amazing to us!!!! God had our Christain family caring for our son even before we knew him and even before He laid adoption on our hearts. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!!

FINALLY A COURT DATE

After several delays and run arounds, we finally have a court date. Andrew will officially and legally be ours on Tuesday, April 25th at 2:00pm!!!! Unfortunately after that we will have to wait a mandatory 10 day waiting period then pick him up from his orphanage. After that we have another 3-5 days of medical exams, and exit paperwork. We are also getting caught up in two of their holidays where all businesses are closed (Orthodox Easter and their Victory Day is May 9th) so this delays things even more! :( Ukranians take their holidays very seriously and close everything down for several days around the important events. Victory Day is their celebration of the end of World War II.

We had another great day with the missionaries and a work and witness group from the Nazarene Church Idaho/Washington districts on Thursday. The work and witness team was here to help build an orphanage. We all went together to see the Larva Caves, War Museum, and lunch. The War Musuem and Larva Caves was truly a once in a lifetime experience. Our guide told us that you truly cannot understand Ukraine until you know the Orthodox religion and the war that was fought on this soil. It was a day full of rich culture and fellowship with our extended Nazarene family.

Awaiting a court date

First of all Karen and I would like to thank everybody for their comments, prayers, and emails during this time. It is very comforting to us both. We wanted to respond to all of the children in Brandon's 3rd grade class who made comments on this blog. The food over here is a bit different than the US and they do have pizza here!!! They have an Uno's pizza that we have eaten at several times. They don't use nearly as much sauce on their pizza as so it's much drier. The main dishes here are Chicken Kiev ( chicken wrapped around cheese ), Borsch (cabbage and beet soup), and Pancakes. Mrs. Leigh says she misses everybody in the class soooo much!!! She hopes everyone is still doing their Math Superstars. She heard that alot of you have moved up to the purple ribbon level!! WAY TO GO!!! We will bring Andrew in to meet all of you when we get back.
We are still awaiting our court date. We have been told it possibly won't be until next Tuesday or Wednesday!!!! It has been frustrating because we are being told different stories. After our court date we will still have to wait two more weeks to come home. We are very anixious to bring Andrew home so he can melt all of your hearts as he has done to ours. Andrew is recognizing pictures of family. We got the priveledge of touring the orphanage today and got to see where Andrew has slept, eaten, and played for the past 3 years. Please help us pray for a rapid closure to our journey. We are getting very homesick!!

Our Wonderful Little Boy

Palm Sunday here in Kiev

Today was a special day. We got the privalege to attend a worship service at the Nazarene church here. The Nazarene Missionary Field Director (Cliff) was nice enough to pick us up this morning and take us to his church. It is Palm Sunday here so they had 2 palm branches laying out in the foyer. This was a neat experience for us. We got to listen to a 2 hour service filled with music, prayer, testimonies, and a sermon. A translator was provided for us so we could understand what was going on. The pastor even introduced us to his congregation. There are about 100 regular members that attend this church. After the service we went to Cliff's house for lunch. A home cooked meal felt soooo good!!! Cliff and his wife were so gracious and we felt so welcomed. Also joining us for lunch was the Nazarene compassionate ministry director and a missionary from St. Petersburg here to teach some classes. We thoroughly enjoyed talking with them. It felt like home and like we were around a bunch of long time friends. An interesting note: Last night as Eric and I were retiring for the evening, we noticed that the apartment was alot colder than previous nights. We didn't think too much about it, we just put on extra clothes to warm up. We found out today that the heat in all the buildings in the city gets turned off like clockwork on April 15 regardless of the temperatures outside. The heat doesn't get turned back on until Oct. 15. We found this interesting because in America we have the luxury of controlling our own temperature at any time. Just one of the many differences we are learning about. We are so excited because we get to see our sweet Andrew tomorrow!!

EXPLORING IN KIEV

Today was a day off for seeing our son Andrew so we decided to explore Kiev some more. We made our way through the downtown streets and ended up at the president's house. We were dying to take a picture as it was a beautiful building but you are not supposed to take pictures of any government buildings. There were several military soldiers around the building so we just enjoyed looking at it. Our next stop was a beautiful park with a couple of monuments. We then made our way to an underground mall for lunch and headed toward the Larva Caves. Before we hit the caves we walked through another park that was honoring World War II heroes. At the end of this park was the best view of Kiev. It sat on top of a big hill where the view was gorgeous. We then found the Larva Caves. This is the place where monks live and pray. The caves are where they preserve the monks bodies. Exploring the caves was truly a unique experience. You go down these dark narrow caves where people are praying over and kissing the coffins of preserved monks. It is very tight down there. Karen got a mild case of claustrophobia and the creeps so I decided to leave her outside exploring the far caves. This place was truly special. We saw several monks walking around and even heard monks singing from a building. All around the caves were different churches to see. We did alot of walking today (probably about 6-7 miles) and are looking forward to seeing more sites tommorow.

CONTINUED JOY WITH OUR NEW SON

The last couple of days have been very exciting for both of us. Yesterday we got to play with him outside on the playground. He loved to go up and down the slide. The communication barrier has been a challenge but we do alot of pointing. Hugs and kisses are a universal language anyway!!! We did get several pictures of him that we are hoping to post on Sunday. We already tried at the cafe but the computer is not set up for this. On Sunday we are going to attend a Nazarene Russian Church service. After the service we've been invited for lunch at the Nazarene Missionary Field Director's house. Here we should be able to post pictures so he can melt your hearts as he has done to ours. Today was a rainy day so most of the interaction was inside. The orphanage had him dressed up in a suit today for us. He looked adorable like a little man. He went from room to room showing off his spiffy duds. We got to show him pictures of big sister Heather, big brother Brandon, and the rest of our family including our house. We then proceeded outside, despite the rain, and had fun with him. Daddy even climbed into a small house with him. OK the gig is up I am going to stop calling him him, we do have an official American name for him. His Russian given name is Igor so we felt led to change this. We are going to keep the initials A.J. (no not annie jane) since it has such a history behind it. Drum roll please ........... his American name is Andrew James Leigh.

The Peace That Passeth All Understanding

All of our heartache that we've been through the last couple of weeks was melted away yesterday. At our fourth apointment at the adoption center we were shown a boy that just turned 3 Feb. 20th. His picture was from when he was about four months old so we couldn't tell what he would currently look like. But all of his information stated that he was healthy so we decided to go see him. He had just become available for adoption that day. His orphanage was just 25 minutes away this time so thank goodness for no 15 hour train ride!!! We walked into the orphanage and were told to wait in a hallway next to the stairwell. The orphanage director went to go wake him up from his nap. As she was walking him up the stairs to meet us she was obviously explaining to him ( in Russian ) who was here to meet him because all of a sudden we heard his little voice echo in the stairwell "mama?" "papa?" At that moment a wave of emotion came over us after we heard that and tears came running. I knelt down so I would be prepared to be at eye level when he came up. I spotted his face as he came into the hall. He was absolutly beautiful. His sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes melted my heart instantly. He immediately walked up to me (Karen) and wrapped his little arms around my neck. It was an INSTANT connection. It felt as though he had been a part of us forever. He embraced me for several minutes and Eric bent down to hug us both. Walt Disney's got nothing on this purely magical moment. The orphanage director told us as we were getting up how lucky we were. That he is such a perfect boy. The staff at the orphanage have fallen in love with him and hate to see him go. We then headed into the playroom where we quickly learned that he loves to be tickled. His smile and laughter lit up the enitre room. He loved for Eric to hold him so he could look out the window at the "machinas" (cars ). We were allowed to play with him for about 30 minutes then our translator told him it was time for mama and papa to go. I could feel his little hand clench my shirt. I'm sure he felt as we did - we didn't want to say goodbye. We are anxious to see him tommorow so we can show him pictures of big brother Brandon and big sister Heather. We do appreciate all of your encouraging emails and prayers during this tough time. And to let everybody know this is a done deal!!! We have signed the papers today to start the final adoption process. They have told us that it will probably take an additional 3 weeks from this point to complete all the legal stuff. (UGG)

PLEASE KEEP PRAYING

Eric and Karen did not leave Kiev to visit their 3rd referral because their facilitator found out before their departure that the child is seriously ill.

Their facilitator will be at the Adoption Center tomorrow morning to see if there are any more children available, and they will get to go one more time if there are any new referrals.

We don't know what to think, except to know that God is still in control, and we all want His will to be accomplished. Obviously, they are pretty drained emotionally, and are counting on continued prayer support from all of us.

If there is not a new referral tomorrow morning, they will leave on Thursday to come back home.

Ken and Pam

A.J. is back in the picture

First of all Karen and I want to thank everybody for your prayers and support. It has been a blessing and encouragement to read all of your comments and emails. We are so sorry for not keeping up with the blog but ALOT has happened in the last few days. Let's start off with the train ride back to Kiev after visting Alexander. We were told that there were no more appointments. Karen and I were very disappointed on a 14 hr train ride coming back to Kiev. On Wednesday we spent 3/4 of the day working on plane tickets to come home back to America. 30 seconds after we got the phone call confirming our plane ride home we got another call from Lesya ( facilitator). She said the director of the adoption center wanted to meet with us. We were very surprised at this because we were on our way home. After meeting with her she told us that she could tell in our hearts that we wanted to adopt. She looked into Karen's eyes and made the comment that she could see her heart. She then told us we could have a 3rd appointment even though the adoption center was closed. This appointment was this morning (Friday ) at 10:20am. We woke up to the first snow fall since we have been here. WOW! We have been waiting for snow for 2 weeks. It gave us such a peaceful start to the day knowing God's plan was going to be revealed. We went to the adoption center where we were presented with some precious children. After looking at their files one stood out to us. She is an ADORABLE , BIG BLUE EYED, PUFFY CHEECKS, 2 year old girl. Our hearts melted when we saw her picture. Lesya told us that she was completly healthy and ready for adoption. She had just become available TODAY!!! Does God move mountains or what?? It was a miracle and we are so thankful for this opportunity He has given to us. Even through the emotional roller coaster we have been on these past two weeks, God's presence has been very evident to us. We are taking a bus to Doneyesk (spelling??) to see her on Monday morning. We are very excited about this. Please continue to pray for us as we meet the "real" Annie Jane. :)

3rd Referral

Grandma gets to be the one to make the BIG announcement:

Eric and Karen are on their way to see our little Annie Jane in the Donetsk region in the southeast of Ukraine near the Black Sea and the Russian border.

She was 2 years old on March 21, and is a rare blue-eyed child in a country full of brown eyed people. She appears to be very healthy and in the picture they saw (10 months old) she had chubby cheeks.

Eric and Karen will have a 12 hr. train ride tonight, but will not get to see her until Monday morning. They are very excited, but also reserved due to their previous experience with Alexander.

We do believe this is God's child for our family, and we very much appreciate your continued prayers on their behalf.

Appointment Time

Appointment time is 10:20 a.m. tomorrow morning. That is 3:20 a.m. our time. I spoke with Karen today and she is so grateful for all of the prayers and messages. She and Eric know there are a lot of people on their team providing prayer support and encouragement, and she said that is really keeping them going. I feel certain that we will be posting some very positive news here by this time tomorrow.

Grandma Pam

Believe in Miracles?

If you didn't believe in miracles before, you need to now. Eric and Karen have been given ONE MORE APPOINTMENT!!!!!! They were called before the Director of the National Adoption Center this afternoon to be asked why they declined their referral for Alexander. The Director was very nice and said she could see Karen's heart in her eyes and was going to give them one more chance. This is totally unexpected since the NAC is shut down right now!

We know there have been many, many prayers on their behalf, but please don't stop now. Their next appointment will be Friday morning.

Ken and Pam

We're coming home

After visiting Alexander at the orphanage we did not feel comfortable proceeding with the adoption process. We were told different information and it wasn't until we got to the orphanage that more accurate information was revealed. Eric and I did not feel comfortable enough in our spirits to continue. Although obviously we are brokenhearted, we feel at peace with our decision given the options that were available to us. The adoption center is officially closed until May 1st so there cannot be a third appointment for us. For reasons beyond our comprehension, this was just not meant to be. Thank you so much for all your prayers, comments, emails and support. We KNOW we were prayed for. We felt your prayers. We love you all.

We aren't sure yet what happened today, but Eric and Karen did not accept their referral for Alexander. They are on their way back to Kiev and will most likely be back home in the next few days. Please keep them in your prayers.

Ken and Pam

WE'RE BUMMED!!!

We just found out that our fascilitator wasn't able to get us train tickets for tonight (Sunday) so we won't leave until Monday at 6pm. So that means we won't be able to see Alexander until Tuesday! It is so hard to wait. Ukranians work at a very slow pace and don't seem to be under the same time pressures as Americans. The next 24 hours will seem like a week to us because we are very anxious to see our Alexander.

Weekend ventures

One quick story we forgot to share. On Friday Karen and I were at a cafe waiting for some paperwork to be completed. Karen ordered a cappachino, and I ordered a hot chocolate. Karen got her drink quickly and after 10-15 minutes we just assumed the waitress forgot about my hot chocolate. It finally arrived but it was literally HOT CHOCOLATE!! The reason it took so long was because she took bars of chocolate and melted it down. I couldn't even get my spoon out of the chocolate because it was so thick!!!! We just had to laugh about it. Since I wouldn't taste it, Karen was the trooper, she made it through about a third of it with a spoon.

On Saturday we decided to explore some more. We visited several monuments downtown Kiev. We also made it back to the town square where we took a tour of Sophia's Church ( the grounds only ). Things got a little nerve racking when we explored the downtown area near the underground mall. There was a demonstration going on due to the vote results from last Sunday. They voted on certain leaders in the government. People were waiving large yellow flags and chanting something in Russian. From far off I was video taping, thinking a parade was coming down the street. Boy was I a little off!!!! As we got closer we quickly realized this was no parade, but the demonstration! We made it safely through the crowds and had lunch at T.G.I. Fridays. After lunch we quickly went through the mall and made it back to the square. We then decided to visit an Orthodox Church (St. Michaels). We saw 3-4 wedding couples. The inside of the church was something Karen and I will probably never see again, it was simply AMAZING!!!! It had paintings all over the walls and ceilings. It was a very reverent place to visit. Karen and I also got the opportunity to have a monkey and an owl take a pitcure with us. To end the day Karen and I took a cable car down the side of a very steep mountain. It cost 50 kopecks (10 cents ). We wanted to take the boat at the bottom of the mountain to tour the river but when we asked about the paroplow (boat) , the Russian lady just crossed her arms across her chest and shivered. We got the message that it was closed due to the cold weather. We're getting the hang of communication!!!! :)

CONTINUED EXCITEMENT

We had a hard time sleeping last night. Our new son's precious face is etched in our minds. We can hardly wait to meet that sweet thing!! Alot of you have inquired about his name. His given Russian name is Alexander and that's all we know. He was born Feb. 8, 2002. We have considered the names of Andrew Jason, Andrew James, and Jason James. We thought it would be cool to keep the initials AJ (originally Annie Jane). We believe God had intended AJ all along. We were just expecting it to be a girl!!!! We are excited about seeing him on Monday. We have a 14 hour train ride leaving Sunday at 6pm and getting into his region at 8am Monday morning. The region were Alexander is from is the Crimerian region. It is south of Kiev, about 2 hours from Odessa, which sits right on the Black Sea. The Carpathian Mts. are close by also. We hear that the region is a beautiful area and the orphange where Alexander is from is a very good one. We are getting prepared to meet him. Today we bought bubbles, crayons, a coloring book, and a cool police car. Thanks for all of your emails and comments!! We will keep you posted.

APPOINTMENT RESULT!!

Annie Jane sure is a funny name for a BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right I said BOY!!!!!!! We have a beautiful 4 year old precious boy. This morning was long and tedious. When we arrived at the adoption center we had to wait 2.5 hours outside the office. ( Ukrainians don't have the same time urgencies that Americans do) We finally got in and the process began again. Before I ( Eric ) could even sit down I saw the boy we were going to adopt. His picture was laying on the desk with several other pictures. I made a comment that he was cute and I never looked back. Even going through the other profiles I still had my eyes on this little boy. He reminded me so much of our other son Brandon. His smile lit up the picture and it looked like he was very happy. After going through the process we looked at this boy along with two other profiles. We were not sure if this boy along with the other profiles were available to adopt or not so our facilitator was going to make some calls. We took a two hour lunch break in which I was a nervous wreck because all I could think about was this boy and how precious his smile was. After eating lunch we met with our facilitator in which she told us that this 4 year old boy was in fact available and we could not hold back our grins. We are so excited about this opportunity and we truly believe God had this child picked out for us. Miracles happen everyday and it is SO AWESOME TO EXPERIENCE THIS. Our prayers all along have been that God would give us BOTH a peace about the same child and they were answered through the blessings of this 4 year old boy. We know all of you have been praying for us and we have felt your prayers. Satan was truly on the attack last night and this morning so we appreciate so much all of your prayers and support. We could not have gotten through this far without it. Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts. We get to meet our precious new son on Monday morning. He lives close to Odessa near the Black Sea so we will take an overnight train Sunday night.

SECOND APPOINTMENT

We just got news from our fascilitator that our second appointment is tomorrow (Friday) at 9:00am our time. (1:00am US east coast) Please pray for us on this very important day. This will probably be our very last chance to choose a child. Please pray that God will give us clear hearts and minds for this appointment. We truly appreciate all your support and prayers. Thank you so much.

Fun in Kiev

After leaving the internet cafe this morning, we decided to be very brave and tour the city. We asked the gentleman running the cafe where we were on the map. We plotted from that point and started our journey. There are no street signs here, they are on the buildings in small Ukrainian letters so it made it very difficult to plot our way. We did finally make it to the central location where all of the beautiful monuments are. Our first sight was of a statue of a famous poet and spiritual leader. It was located in a big park. After this sight we walked past the opera house. Wow what a huge building. We then found an Uno's Pizza ( Again we are big chickens, playing it safe with the food). Boy that large pizza with ham and black olives sure did taste good and for dessert chocolate mousse. We then proceeded down four blocks to the biggest outdoor flea market. We spent a couple of hours here looking at pictures, nestling dolls, hats, bags, and all types of beautiful handmade nick nacks. During our shopping we saw St. Andrews church. It was blue with gold domes on the top of it. We then went back through a big center square where there was a monument of their great leader on a horse and two beautiful churches. Our last stop was a church that was built in 1037!!! It was a fun day with lots of things to see. We are hoping to get our exact day from our facilitator tonight for our second appointment. Please pray that God will start now to prepare our hearts for this important decision Karen and I have to make. Karen's note: There are no parking lots here, everyone just pulls up on the sidewalks with no warning. Eric was standing on the street corner trying to read a Russian sign when a bus pulled up on the curb to park, missing Eric by millimeters!!! Also- another funny note- another American couple that is here went to a restaurant to have lunch. She was thrilled to see a cheeseburger on the menu. After she ordered and took her first bite, she cracked up hysterically. It was literally a "cheese" burger! A block of cheese coated with breading! HA HA

ANOTHER DATE!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!!! We received another date!!! Our facilitator (Lesya) was at the adoption center until 8:30pm last night. We actually had a letter printed to us stating that we would have to go home and come back another time. In terms our application WAS rejected for a second appointment. Lesya is such a blessing to us. She really has worked hard for us during this time. She waited hours outside the director's office refusing to have NO as the answer. We believe that God was with her and the director's heart last night during this decision. Eighteen other couples received the same rejection letter as we did. Unfortunately the director refused to give these couples a second appointment,. What a miracle it is to be able to have a second appointment. We believe God said no the first time because our child was not yet available. Karen and I feel very confident that this second appointment will be the one. We are so excited about this opportunity and we feel like we have been given a second life. The second appointment has not yet been set but we've been told that it will either be Friday, Saturday, or Monday at the latest (Remember the office was supposed to close this Saturday, April 1st, but they are making a special exception for us-I don't know why). God makes miracles everyday and we believe this is a true miracle. We were so close to coming home without a child just yesterday. To add to Lesya's plate, her grandmother died yesterday unexpectedly. Even under all this stress and sadness of losing her grandmother she stayed at the adoption office all day to fight for our appointment. Please keep Lesya and her family in your prayers during this difficult time. We will find out for sure tonight when our day will be.

The day after the appointment

Today was very stressful. We still do not know if we will get a second appointment or not. We have talked to both our facilitator and our agency and can't seem to get a direct answer on our situation. We are trying to get another appointment for either Thursday or Friday but it doesn't look good right now. We have been told that other families have been waiting 2 weeks for a second referral so they are being seen first. The adoption center is closing on Monday, April 1st. As far as we know the adoption center will only complete the adoption process after April 1st for those who have accepted their referrals this week. This is why it is important to have a referral by this Friday so we can continue this process. If not we could be coming home without a child. On a brighter note, Karen and I are getting comfortable with our surroundings. We feel safe and are even speaking a little bit of Russian to the locals. We did make it to the downtown Kiev mall today. It almost looks the same as our malls. We had a nice lunch looking over downtown Kiev. We also got to see what the movie poster of ICE AGE II looks like in Ukrainian. After the mall we found a big grocery store and did some food shopping. Karen is attached to Chiken Kiev, while I like the chicken wings and Lays potato chips. The sun finally came out today, first time since we have been here and the weather is warm (probably about 50 degrees). Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Appointment Day

Appointment day was finally here. Unfortunately we did not get a child today. We were shown very sick children and much older kids. We are told that the adoption center will be shutting down officially April 1st for a month to change over to a new department. We were aware this may be the case but we were told before we left the US that we still would be able to complete our adoption. This may not be accurate. Our fascilitator is working very hard to try to get us another appointment this week before they shut down as new children are added daily. Please pray that God's will be done in this situation. Our hearts are saddened, but we both feel at peace at this moment. Thank you so much for all of you who have been sending e-mails. Eric and I appreciate it so much. It is so good to hear from family and friends. We feel your "hugs" through the computer. We will update you as soon as we learn more of our progress.

First Day Adventure!

After sleeping most of the day away, we decided to go exploring. We went to McDonald's for lunch (I know, we played it safe! :) ) Our first face to face conversation with a Ukrainian was at Mcdonald's. After struggling to communicate our order of 2 Big Macs, 2 fries and 2 sodas, we ended up with 1 BigMac , 1 Fry, and 3 sodas! I guess we need to polish up on our Russian! :) After lunch, we saw a bunch of people rushing into the doors of a big building across the street. We thought it might be a mall, so we decided to follow the crowd. It ended up being a train station, so we had to then turn around and go against the flow to try to get out. It was interesting to be pushed around from side to side by hurried locals. We decided to head back to the apartment when Eric caught a glance of an open air market. We had such fun going down the rows, listening to the locals shop, and looking at all the items labeled in hyvanias (Ukrainian money). Everything is quite a bit cheaper here than in US. We had many encounters with the shop owners as we bought some necessities and they didn't speak any English but were very patient with our hand gestures.

We're Here!

We had a good time on our travel days hopping from plane to plane. We went from Greenville to Detroit to Boston to Paris to Ukraine all in 33 hours! Whew! Were we tired after we got here!!! We have had a huge culture shock. It is alot different here than what I expected. It will take a while to get used to all the changes. We went to the grocery store on the way from the airport to have a few things in our apartment. What an experience that was! Everytime Eric and I talked, the locals would stare at us as if we were movie stars or something! We are running into some bumps along the way so we ask that you please remember us in prayer. It looks like the adoption center is going to close down April 1st, so please pray we can find our child before then.

Private E-Mail for Eric and Karen while in Ukraine

You can reach Eric and Karen by private e-mail while they are out of country at the following address:

 

bringingherhome@yahoo.com

 

It is not certain how often they will be able to check messages.  You may also post comments on this blog.

Our Journey Begins!

Follow the process of our journey to Bring Home Annie Jane. The first leg of our flight begins at 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 25, 2006.

On March 28, 2006 we will have an appointment at the National Adoption Center in Kiev to find a new member of our family. Please keep us in your prayers as we choose the little girl that God has in mind to join our family.