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. :)