Down Day

Sorry about the sideways pics. I can't get them to stay turned and I can't read the instructions - they are in Russian. Eric's suggestion is to just turn your head!

This is our apartment buildint in Kiev.

This is Eric's favorite feature of the apartment. He says he's installing one in our house!
This is the pull-out sofa that doesn't go back in.
Our teen tiny kitchen. Notice the laundry hanging behind the bar area.
Eric and Kathy in front of one of the many statues. This is Kiev's founding family. There were 3 brothers and a sister. The oldest brother was named Kyiv.

Today we have basically taken it easy. I didn't get out of bed until 11 am. and my early rising husband slept until nearly 9 am!!!! I guess traveling caught up with us. We will be leaving on the train for Sevistopal tomorrow evening so we re-packed this afternoon and got our fill of BBC. We have 4 stations in English - CNN, BBC, BBC Prime and VH1. I'm thankful we have even one. The quiet would drive me nuts. Plus it's just nice to hear our own language once in a while - even if it is the "queen's english". We were afraid last night was going to be a long night - when we got back to the apartment we realized the building had no power. It gets dark around 4:30 here so we had several hours to wait out until bed time. Luckily the power kicked on a little after 6:00 and we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening (watching BBC of course!) We're planning on grabbing some McDonald's and heading back to the apartment. It's snowing today and has been for awhile so everything is soggy. Sounds like a good day for a nap!!

Oh - if you want to hear an extreme adoption story check out this blog journeytokyiv.spaces.live.com We met this couple while we were waiting for our SDA appointment. Neat people!

What an adventure!

Well, we are officially in Ukraine. We got here on Wednesday afternoon (about 7:30 am) at home. The flight itself was uneventful but awful. The international part of our flight flew us from Chicago to Dusseldorf. Eric and I were in the two middle seats in the middle section of the plane. The movies were boring and it was a choppy flight so it made for a very long night. We made it through Passport control and customs without incident and Jenia (one of our facilitators and an all around nice girl) was there to meet us shortly after we cleared all of that. She took us to the apartment that we would be staying in for our time in Kiev. It is a nice apartment. We were sharing it until today with another couple so that helped with expenses. It has all the ammenities that we were looking for after traveling - a bed, plenty of hot water, and heat! The fact that it is clean and pretty is a definite bonus. We are staying about a 15 minute walk from Kiev's version of the "magnificent mile" and they have a few restaurants here with english menus which is a definite plus. We had our appointment at the SDA today. They had all the paperwork ready for us and we will hopefully be headed down to Sevestopal to start the paperwork process on Sunday. It is an 18 hour train ride to get there. I was nervous about the appointment. I wasn't sure what to expect. The SDA official that we had was efficient and was ready to send us on our way about 15 minutes after we had entered her office. Normally they allow one hour for these appointments. Today however was a special day. They had scheduled the whole day with Americans seeking to adopt "known" children and so they had only allowed 30 minutes per family. It was nice to see some other Americans and be able to speak without translators. After our appointment we were taken back to our apartment. The other couple staying with us left this afternoon to visit some missionary friends so Eric and I are alone in Ukraine for the first time. Mr. Stir-Crazy (that would be Eric) lasted about 25 minutes in the apartment before we headed out in search of the internet cafe. (For those of you who will be here soon - go to TGI Fridays and take a left. At the corner go in that building and go upstairs. The person at the desk will give you a computer number and you pay when you leave. I'll let you know rates later - not sure what they are yet!!)
Emotionally we are doing okay. It's hard being away from the kids and it's hard not knowing what is going to happen next. We know in our hearts that God is in control of this situation but sometimes it's hard to keep that in my head. I'm trying my best to remember that all of this will be in His timing and that I can trust in Him to lead us all the way.
In other news, we talked to the kids last night and Michael says he is feeling great! Thank goodness! I think that's all I've got for now. If you have specific questions that I haven't answered feel free to email me and I'll try to reply at some point. I didn't bring my USB cord with me today so I can't post any pics but I don't really have any anyway so you're not missing anything.

2008 already?

Christmas Morning!
Michael is shocked that his parents were dumb enough to buy him Heely's!
Charity is happy that she finally has a "home" for her Littlest Pet Shops and can keep them away from the dog who loves to eat the feet and tails off of them!
Charity and Olivia are worn out after so many days of running around and excitement.
Eric and I on the day before our anniversary. I finally figured out that my camera had a timer on it - only 2 days before I got a new one!

Michael with his friends and sister at his 7th birthday party. They made marshmallow guns and had a blast!











Michael with his collection of footballs. He's just slightly obsessed!












Charity, Olivia, and my college roommate's daughter being too cheesy for words!






My cousin, Charity, and Peanut the hamster. It wouldn't be Christmas at my cousins house without adding a live animal of some sort. Goats, kittens, puppies, tadpoles, hamsters...what will next year bring?






Is it too late to do a little New Year posting? I know the month is technically half over but I still feel like we should be celebrating Christmas. Of course, that could be because I just mailed my Christmas cards a couple of weeks ago! Better late than never, right?! It always seems to go so quickly and this year I only got about 20 pictures! Shocking I know but I just got sick of lugging around my big ‘ol beast of a camera. I really like that camera and the fact that I have a zoom and panoramic lens but it is just huge and isn’t convenient to stick in my purse. My father-in-law gave us a new one for our anniversary this year though (9 years on Jan 2nd!) and I’m having a great time playing with it. No worries about Christmas pictures – I’m sure between my step-dad and father-in-law I’ll be able to come up with quite a few pictures to fill in the gaps and help us remember the days.
The kids went back to school on the 7th. I was bummed. I’m one of those weirdo parents who loves having my kids at home – although not enough to home-school them. We just have so much fun when school isn’t getting in the way. They are my excuse for playing the Wii, reading Junie B. Jones, listening to Hannah Montana, and watching High School Musical! Without them around it looks pretty pathetic for a 30 year old woman to be doing those things! You would think that I would use some of that free time to check my email or update this blog but that would make way too much sense! Now, I’m going to avoid going into a rant about the evils of dial-up Internet. I’ll just say this though, if you have ever tried to call my house when I’m on the Internet you totally understand my frustration.
Eric is still studying hard for the Bar exam. As if going to class every day M-F isn't enough, we've also filled up our Saturdays in January with the classes required to become foster parents. We would eventually like to adopt and earlier in the fall some events got us started on the foster care process. Once we had started, it seemed a shame to not follow through and so far it has been really affirming for us that we are on the right track. It will be interesting to see what God has in store for us with all of this. In the meantime, we will finish navigating the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense. Keep us in your prayers!

2 months in pictures

Let's get fired up! Burn 'em baby, burn 'em up! (Or as Charity said " Burn a baby, burn 'em up"! She's sick!)
Okay, how cute are they!!!
We're off to see the Wizard...
Doing crossword puzzles with Big Papa.
Believe it or not this was 2 minutes before she got in bed. I really don't know where she comes up with this stuff!
Getting ready for the homecoming parade!
That hair is SO cool! Doesn't he look like he should be in the band "Flock of Seagulls"!
Olivia makes a much better electric blanket!
This is the ONLY way you will ever see those stinkin' Irish on my blog! As a side note, Michael's team's record was as bad as that team in South Bend!
Charity snuggled up with Pinkie Poo before a game.
Charity and Aunt Steph before a fun filled day at King's Island.
She was too short for a lot of the "real" rides but luckily got sufficiently jerked around on the Dora ride.
Jason, Greg and Michael get ready to go up on Drop Zone. I can't believe the lack of fear in my little boy!
Michael at a local baseball game.
Charity really just liked the food and stretching out in the grass at the ball park!




Well, here are a bunch of pics to catch everybody up. I've said it before and I will continue to say it - dial-up is a pain in my rear. All I want to do is update my blog and it takes me an hour and a half to upload the pics I want to put on! I hope you all enjoy them, I've put a significant portion of my day into putting them up here. Who am I kidding? I love showing off my kids. They crack me up. There are some classics in this group of pictures. I don't know what I'm going to do for inspiration now that we are in NO activities. It is wonderful! So far Michael isn't missing playing basketball but we'll see how it goes once it's too cold for him to go outside on a regular basis. Right now he comes home from school, changes into play clothes, grabs his mouthpiece and football and heads out to play himself. I love spying on him out the window as he takes turns playing all the different positions and doing the play-by-play as well as the instant replay. The kid has a definite career choreographing the NFL player's touchdown dances. They are priceless!! I wish he was wired so that I could hear what he is saying out there. He loves the game SO much. Charity claimed to like cheerleading but at 8:30 on cold Saturday mornings she really just wanted to snuggle under a blanket with me or Eric and pretend to watch Michael play. At least she looked cute in her uniform! Her favorite part of every game was snack time. Go figure.
School is going well for my 3 students. Michael is loving lunch, recess, his friends and his teacher. The actual school work he could do without. Luckily the work comes easily to him otherwise I don't know how we would convince him to buckle down and actually try. He's also a very compliant child so he isn't having behavior issues even though he is bored. He has started reading chapter books to himself and Charity likes to have him read to her too. It's hard to believe that one year ago he was reading around 10 words. It's amazing to see Charity and think that in a year she could be reading the way Michael is. So far she doesn't love it as much as Michael did. She really likes school but mostly because she can play with her friends and chase the boys on the playground - although right now they are chasing her. They apparently switch roles every week or so. I prefer the chasing over the kissing though. The first month of school she got kissed a handful of times. I'm SO not ready for this!!!
Our other student is looking forward to graduation! He takes his last final on December 12th and we are ALL counting down the days. He'll have 14 days off before he starts his bar prep classes. That's right - Merry Christmas, we'll start class tomorrow! This whole process has been "rubberizing" - it has stretched me in ways I didn't know I needed stretched. It would not surprise me to look back in 20 years and consider this one of the best times of my life. It wasn't easy being away from home but the benefits have far outweighed the negatives. That being said, I too will be VERY happy when law school is over. So, there's a quick update on life here. I'll try to be better about posting in the future.

Michael at football practice - tell me he's not the cutest thing you've ever seen!!
As much as it pains me to post something with any member of my family wearing something advertising this heinous school - Charity DOES look cute wearing her brother's jersey!
This is how dark it was on Charity's 1st "real" day of school. It was actually the third day for Michael! It's just wrong to make me get up early enough for my kids to get on the bus when it is STILL DARK OUTSIDE!!!



I'm finally settling in to the new routine at our house. With both kids at school in the morning, Olivia and I have had some adjusting to do. I absolutely LOVE having my kids at home but I have to say that my house looks really nice until about 10:45! I guess I never realized just how much stuff my adorable rugrats drag out. We are learning together how to adjust to our new schedules. Eric started back to class two weeks ago. Luckily the nights he is gone we have football and cheerleading practice or church. I'm sure the next 12 weeks or so will fly by and I have to say - I'm ready for him to be done, although I don't miss cooking dinner 3 nights a week. For some reason Eric doesn't view popcorn or breakfast cereal as an adequate dinner. Hello - popCORN - vegetable!! Cereal - WHOLE GRAINS and MILK!! This is healthfood!! I'm a great mom! The sad thing is you all know I know how to cook! I don't even mind doing it and sometimes it is even enjoyable. I just can't quite bring myself to make all those dirty dishes when I know the kids are just as happy (maybe more so) with the food they get when I don't!

Welcome Olivia!

Just wanted to introduce you to the newest member of our family! Charity has been campaigning hard for a year to get a dog. She really wanted a poodle but apparently the key for her was small and fluffy (the key for me was NO SHEDDING!!!) So today, Eric and I surprised her with this little fur-ball. Eric actually surprised me with it and then let me be in on the surprise to Cheech. She has been named "Olivia". Our previous dog was named "Oliver". Obviously creativity does not run deep in our family. She is a "morkie", aka maltese/yorkie mix. She is 18 wks old and weighs 2.9 lbs. They told us she will get to about 6-8 lbs. So she's basically a glorified cat. That's my kind of dog!! She will make her debut to the public tomorrow at the Pet Parade. I know I haven't posted much this month but we all know I won't be fixing that this week. We are definite fair rats (except for Eric who could care less about the fair - weirdo) so we will be away from the computer for a week. Enjoy these pics though. I'll have many more after the fair! Oh - Michael wasn't left out today - Eric decided to get him a go-kart!! That will make for some fun pics to show you too!

Fireworks anyone?

Riding bikes to the fireworks party
More of those cousins I keep mentioning - this time there were some of the boys around. Michael was very thankful.


We were able to join family and neighbors at my Aunt BarJane's house on Friday night for the annual 4th of July extravaganza! Basically it's too much good food, lots of great fellowship and the kids shooting off fireworks once it is FINALLY dark (which isn't until after 9:00 in these parts! Has anyone every told you guys you're in the wrong time zone?) They only live about a mile from us so the kids decided to ride their bikes over. Lucky mom got to follow on foot but I got the above cute picture so it was worth it. Michael is getting better and better at the two-wheeler thing. He gets started on his own now and rarely topples over anymore. I got quite a workout trying to keep up with them. We have to work on Charity since her favorite place to ride is right down the center of the road. With her training wheels rattling around she can't here cars approaching from behind so I need to break her of that "drifting" habit.
We spent yesterday hanging around at home. Eric studied at the library all day so the kids and I piddled around. They had their art kits out about 7 times during the day and probably went through a couple of trees-worth of paper. They picked up sticks in the yard and took good naps. They're hoping to go swimming at mom's after their naps today so I'll try to get some pics of that. I haven't been very good about taking my camera with me this summer. I need to get back in the habit. Well my plan is to break out the ol' sewing machine this afternoon and hem a pair of pants that Eric has been waiting on for about 3 months. I'm telling you - I lead such an exciting life. It is SO worth your time reading about it! :) (But I'm glad you do!)

I'm so glad they love each other! It makes the days when they don't like each other so much easier to bear!
Fun on the back deck before we moved- who said a sand box has to hold sand!
Picnic time and guess what was in there kids' meals - Hannah Montana guitars! Michael LOVES Hannah!
When we were at the local zoo before we moved (see below) they have this tunnel and the otters will swim right over you (in theory at least!)
Most playgrounds at home have mulch - sand is much more fun.



Well these are pictures of our last month before we moved. We tried to get in as many "last" visits to some of our favorite places as we could. (Mostly restaurants for me - I really miss everything being Greek owned!) We also took a day to go to the local zoo. That was actually the day BEFORE we moved! Aren't you proud of me! I had the whole house packed up a full day in advance so that we were able to have FUN on our last day. It meant staying up late for the whole week before but I had HGTV to keep me company and it was all worth it in the end. Plus I can tell you about the prices of real estate all across the nation since all that is on that late is "What you get for the money" and "House Hunters". I like both of them but it was almost more than I could take since we are still renting. Not that I would change our current housing situation too much. "Our" little house is pretty perfect for us right now. Being close to family is a major plus and having room for the kids to run around and explore outside has been great. My cheapskate husband (love you Eric!) enjoys the fact that we are on top of a hill with a nice breeze and 3 huge shade trees so I haven't really felt the need to turn on the AC yet. Just don't remind him about the day that I left the house with all the windows open and a storm blew in. He came home to a house that was completely soaked! He loves me - I know he does. I learned my lesson though. I close the windows (at least the ones on the west side of the house) when we leave now and there is a chance of rain. Speaking of leaving - I need to get moving. We have to leave the house in an hour and I still haven't done Charity's hair and we are all in "play clothes". More later.

Back home again...

What animals should we go see next?
Michael feeds the giraffe some yam.
Charity's giraffe was not quite at patient!
I'm just proud of this picture and wanted to share!
Here's some of those wonderful cousins I mention later on!


Well we're back "home"! I'm telling you, in some ways that 2 years feels like an eternity but in others it feels like we never left. We've had a pretty easy time getting settled back in. Thank goodness we have cousins though. It's just really hard for little kids to keep a strong long-distance friendship so it is taking Michael and Charity a little bit of time to find their niche again at church, which is where nearly all of their friends were from before we moved away. We were lucky that VBS was the week after we moved back so they were able to spend a lot of time with the kids their own age and plug right back in. For my part, I went right back to my favorite spot of all for VBS week - the snack kitchen! I love the people that work snacks and it is such a low stress job. We "prepare" snack for 1200 kids but with the lovely invention of pre-packaged single serve snack bags - it really isn't too big of a job! We get plenty of time to chit-chat and watch what all the kids are doing throughout the campus. It's so neat to see all those kids having a BLAST and doing it in a way that honors God and teaches them about Him. In between trips to church (that much hasn't changed in 2 years at least!) we've found time to do some fun stuff too. We've been swimming at mom's and our wonderful neighbor and friend Kristin's. We also got to go to a birthday party at the local pool that has 2 water slides - fun stuff!! The week we moved home, Aunt Teri took Michael and Charity on their annual trek to the zoo. Once again she chose one of the HOTTEST days of the year to go – but a fun time was had by all. I was allowed to tag along again this year. The deal is that I get to go but I have to be FUN! I guess as long as I’m acting like “Aunt Mommy” instead of that normal mean ‘ol ogre they have around every other day of the year then I’m allowed to go on “zoo day”. We had fun petting sharks, feeding giraffes, watching the dolphin show, seeing the elephant getting her bath and of course freaking Aunt Mommy out by spending an extraordinary amount of time in the snake house! (At least it seemed like FOREVER to me! Seriously - who cares if a python is non-venomous and a viper is venomous! They both could kill you! One bites the other squeezes but dead is dead!) We also got to get our favorite zoo time treat – Dip’n Dots! I love the “ice cream of the future”! We made a trek back to our former residence to grab the rest of our stuff (a U-haul, 2 cars and a minivan didn't provide enough room!) We were also supposed to go to Michael's last baseball game but it got rained out! BOO! I know, I know, we needed the rain, but that doesn't mean I like to see my poor boy heart broken! He perked up pretty quick when we offered to let him play video games for a couple hours on end though so all is good again!

What a year!

Charity and her two best friends from church!
Michael and one of his church buddies - who also happened to be in the same class at school and saved him from a fate worse than death - being the only boy at Charity's poodle themed birthday party!
Michael and more friends from church!
(I don't know why I never posted this one. I just realized I had it saved as a draft!)
The kids and I had our last Wednesday night church session last night. Charity has her end of the year program next week but all our other activities are done. I don't know if I've ever mentioned our Wednesday night activities or not. Our church offers all kinds of activities on Wednesday night. They have women's and men's Bible study, choir, the teens have activities and they have "clubs" for the younger kids. Michael and Charity love hanging out with their friends and doing fun stuff. The boys and girls each have their own clubs so they get to do stuff that they especially like. Charity's club has had a pajama party, painted nails, and had all kinds of fun. Mixed in with all this fun is teaching the girls how they are loved by Jesus and teaching them the value of serving. They made cookies for the workers in the nursery, cleaned baby toys and all kinds of other little projects. They had a cookout last night where they got to make smores - girls and chocolate go hand in hand you know! Michael has enjoyed playing all kinds of "boy" stuff with other kids his age and some long suffering dads. They have had paper airplane races, bike/scooter nights, and all kinds of other fun that generally has them coming home smelling like - well, boys! For my part I really enjoyed the Bible study I was in this session. I joined a bunch of wonderful ladies going through Beth Moore's study on the Patriarchs. If you've ever been through one of her studies then you know they are set up for a 10 week session with homework 5 days a week. Our church takes it at a slower pace which doesn't overwhelm me with homework and allows more time for discussion within our small groups. For each of Beth's "weeks" we take 3 weeks. We discuss days 1,2,&3 for week 1, days 4&5 for week 2, and the watch and discuss the video on week 3. I loved it and LOVED the study! If you've never gotten into a Beth Moore study - I HIGHLY recommend them! Thank you so much to the faithful family we found at LBC for all the love they have shown us while we were with you. We will miss you!