FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

We had orientation Monday and last night to get prepared for today, the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! Yeah, Me!! The house is QUIET today. Everybody was very excited to go to school. No one had to be asked twice to get up---we'll see how getting up for school is two months from now! We said goodbye to Elyse after our annual "First Day of School Photos", as she got on the bus, then shortly loaded the rest up and off we went. I dropped everyone off with big smiles today. I can't wait to hear about their first day tonight.


The kids have been doing well--learning a little more English every day. They have been doing the Rosetta Stone online computer program for English as well as a local place where I take them once a week for tutoring, and then we are doing English lessons at home almost every day.

All six children get along and like each other. The boys have liked playing some video games with Alex--I believe they think they've moved from Ukraine to Video Game Heaven! Alina enjoys dressing up, coloring, listening to kids music in her room, singing, clunking around in dress-up shoes, and playing with Addie and Elyse.

Last week we went to a county fair, looked at a lot of animals, rode rides, and had ice cream.






Last weekend we enjoyed the day with some friends in Michigan at their home with a lovely cook-out. We spent the afternoon at Lake Michigan and the kids loved the BIG waves that were there. They also were all buried in the sand!








This weekend we went camping in Michigan. We have a camper that we took. We took our bicycles (8 bikes plus 2 pull-behind bikes--Yuri and Alina can't go very far for very long yet). Ruslan LOVES to ride his bike! He's crashed several times, gets a band aid, and takes off again on his bike. We enjoyed the beach at the camp ground, playground, and biking for ice cream.









I hope you enjoy the pictures!

One Week Update

We have survived our first week of being home as a new family. We arrived home last Sunday in Chicago to friends and family at the airport. It was wonderful to have all of our children meet each other. We all loaded up into our Suburban and drove home to Valparaiso to a house full of friends and family who greeted us. We enjoyed visiting and introducing our children to everyone.

Our neice Lydia made this "Welcome Home" sign in Ukrainian for us that she brought to the airport.

On Monday we all woke up EARLY! We stayed home, unpacked, began laundry (which took me until Thursday to get through!) and began assimilating together. On Tuesday off we went to get five haircuts. Then, on to Claires where Alina got her ears pierced. She was exicted about her new earrings, and has enjoyed showing them off. We have also been working on the Kumon reading system, which we began in Ukraine before we brought the children home. They have been doing well with it. Ruslan has had English in school, and his reading skills are good. He doesn't always understand the content, but can sound out the words very well. Yuri and Alina are learning the alphablet, and are getting some basic phrases and words down. I took them into the Kumon learning center this week, and they all did very well, and were very excited to find out that we will be going back this week. Alina even asked Zenon if she could go back the same day! This week they will be beginning the Rosetta Stone English on-line program through school. This will be good because they will be able to work on the language at home.

We've enjoyed the beach with friends, picnics, a friend's pool, water-park, new bicycles, and video games! All in all, we've had a good week and haven't had any major problems. Here are some photos that we thought you might enjoy:

Waiting for us to arrive at the airport!
Our friend Florian (who is Ukrainian) welcomed our children with Ukrainian bread and salt atop a beautiful table runner which his mother had stitched.

Addie and Alina in their room!

Ruslan in his new room.






Yuri excited about his new bed!

Alina's haircut

Finished product~~happy smiles!

Ruslan wanted his hair cut like Alex's!

Yuri after his haircut



Alina getting her ears pierced.

WE ARE COMING HOME!!

Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina in front of SDA today. We took them to meet the women in the office where we reviewed the files. The women were happy to meet them and enjoyed talking with them.


Zenon just called me as he walked out of the American Consulate here in Kiev and said he has the visas in hand!!!! This is a miracle---literally! The Consulate here was waiting for an email from the USCIS office in Chicago in order to process the papers. We were called at 9am this morning and told that the email had not come. We went for our interview this morning anyway in order to get the rest of the process completed. The frustration level was high today--after an elated phone call of joy accompanied by many tears last night.

Let me recap--I did not update yesterday due to phone calls and emails back and forth to America.

On Wednesday, we heard that the "approved age" was not in compliance with what was on our original application. We then began a series of phone calls, emails, skype calls, more emails, and lots and lots of tears. We began to work on finding out what needed to be done to change this. We were told by the USCIS office in Chicago that an addendum needed to be submitted to their office to change this and then they would let Kiev know so we could get our visas. This was prepared, and was taken to Chicago and hand delivered by my mother (who I believe broke all speed limits in order to do this) to the "officer" (at this point I use this term loosely) who requested the document. At that point my mother was only told that this document was not sufficient. Okay, let's begin by bumping up the stress level here to about a 9 on a scale of 1-10. So, now know that this isn't enough begins more emails and phone calls to figure out what to do.

A friend of mine initiated a phone call to her father who is a friend of our Congressman Pete Visclosky. He was willing to help us, but we needed to get him a form filled out with one of our signatures on it. I said, ok, let's get it done. But, of course, being a blond it didn't occur to me that I don't have a printer or fax machine here in this apartment--just our laptop. So, at 10pm here in Kiev (and 2pm in Indiana) my husband made a phone call to someone here to find a 24 hour internet cafe. Off he went, returning about 1:30am, successfully printing and faxing the document to Greg at the Congressman's office.

On Thursday, we received an email from the USCIS office stating that we needed to have a brand new home study done!!! You've got to be kidding me!?! That is virtually impossible, since we are in Kiev and home studies need to be done AT HOME by both parents. So, the stress level now rose to 25 on a scale of 1-10. At this point, we were completely mystified at the response we received from the USCIS.

The Congressman's office began a string of phone calls and investigation into the situation on our behalf. Thursday evening we received a phone call from him stating that the supervisor reviewed the file, and would sign off on it immediately, allowing the visas to be processed. This required her to send an email to Kiev with this information. So, we were so excited, crying tears of joy, and ready to come home with our children.

This morning began with THE phone call from the U.S. Consulate's office: no email! We felt like we were kicked in the stomach again. No email???? So, off to the appointment--and praying like crazy that the email would arrive by days end. We needed to wait until 4pm Kiev time (8am back in Chicago). At 4pm Zenon decided to go to the U.S. Consulate office and wait for the approval to be transmitted. On the way to the Consulate, Zenon phoned Greg and updated him about the situation. The Consulate office closes at 4:30 and they waited to close at 5 while he was there. At 5 minutes to 5pm, Zenon in TEARS, asked for them to call Greg at Congressman Visclosky's office. The consulate graciously complied and called Greg for a last minute bailout. Greg didn't understand why the email had not yet been processed by the USCIS Manager. Within moments of the conversation, the Consulate received a phone call followed by - you guessed it - THE E-MAIL!!!!!!!!

Zenon called me at 5:25 and said he just left the American Consulate's office with the VISA's in hand!!!!!!!

Our God is still on the throne when everything looks hopeless!

Closer

Today has been a long and emotionally frustrating day. We thought that our request from the home study agency that was done yesterday would work, but we woke up to an email stating that we needed more documentation. Our friends in the United States all knew this before we did!! So, when our days started at 7am, it was only 3am at home. This meant that we stressed until 8am, until any offices were open. So, five hours later, we were able to begin "working" on this situation from here.

After numerous emails, phone calls, skype calls--I think we are getting closer to getting our visas for the kids. Please pray that the USCIS office in Chicago will find favor with our situation and be willing to push the documentation through. Originally we were told that our home study agency wouldn't be able to do anything until at least next Tuesday because the lady we originally met with was on vacation. AGH! So, prayer, phone calls, pleadings, a letter of request--may our God find favor on our children.

At the moment it is 12:20am, and Zenon left about an hour and a half ago looking for a 24 hour Internet cafe with a printer and fax machine. Our local Congressman's office will help us, but the need a signed faxed request on a specific form. We learned of this at 10:10 pm here. So, off he went. Please pray that our congressman's office will also be able to help us bring our children home.

Zenon made a comment today about them being orphans, during a conversation we were having, and then I looked at him, with tears in my eyes (okay, I'm crying again) and said, "They are not orphans--they are OUR CHILDREN!" It hit us both at that moment. Just because I can't bring them to the United States today, doesn't mean they are any less our children.

We have plane tickets for Saturday, and hope that this will be resolved by then. If not, we will have to figure out what to do next.

Please continue to pray for us!

Kiev-Visa Problems

We did not take the train last night, it was full! So we left Ternopil at 5:30am this morning to take a mini bus to Kiev. The drive was about 5 1/2 hours. We slept for awhile this morning while driving. The sun was out and it was pleasant.

We arrived in Kiev and went to the American Consulate to make an appointment to submit our documents for visas for the children. We were informed that the children we have adopted do not meet the ages that were approved for by the USCIS office (office of immigration). She said that the visas would be approved only after an addendum was submitted by our home study agency to the USCIS office stating that we are approved by them to adopt children older than 8 years old. We had no way of knowing about this. It was hard, but I didn't burst into tears at the counter (even though I wanted to!). Then told Zenon and Valery. This began a series of phone calls to the US and within the US to see what can be done.

Once the addendum is faxed to the USCIS office, then it is a matter of time (days???weeks???) for them to notifiy the American Consulate in Kiev that this change is approved. Once that happens we can get their visas and go home.

Please pray for us while this is happening. There been lots of tears (by me) and prayer that this won't take very long. We would really like to use our plane tickets for Saturday!!

PS If you know of anyone who can help us, please let us know!

Last Day in Ternopil

We have had a busy day here in Ternopil! We began by being woken up by the kids-- we definitely weren't ready to wake up yet. But, we began our day by visiting a family who is working on their apartment close to here. When you purchase an apartment in Ukraine, you get walls. Just walls. No heating, electrical, flooring, walls, doors, windows, NOTHING-- for an incredible amount of money! We visited for a while and then walked back to where we are staying to get ready to go out to the orphanage.

We arrived at the orphanage after picking up Tatiana and a couple of women from her office as well as several journalists. The final documents were filled out and then we signed the final paper!
Signing the Final Documents at the orphanage with Natalia

Talking with reports about the adoption process.

After the final signings, the reports wanted these photos taken.

Photo for the journalist

Picture with fairy tale figures carved out of trees at the park.

Zenon's Ukrainian fashion statement!

We enjoyed lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Everything was fine, until we heard a splash, and then Zenon pulled Alina out of the goldfish pond by her foot. I thought it was hilarious! We laughed, she was wet, but dried on the walk home.

We were unable to get train tickets to Kiev, all trains were sold out. So, we will be getting up at 4:15, getting in a van at 5am and going to Kiev. We need to get their medical exams done so that we can submit the documents for their visas to America. So, tomorrow will be long and tonight is short!

We're in Ternopil!

We arrived in Ternopil this morning (Sunday) at 7:15am. We left Chicago on Friday after sitting in the airplane for over 2 1/2 hours waiting for the catering company to bring the food for the flight. Needless to say, our 8 1/2 in the plane ended up being over 11!! By the time we reached Frankfurt, Germany we had to go directly from our terminal to the next terminal and began boarding in the next 20 minutes. Unfortunatley, we missed having breakfast with my Aunt Brooks and Uncle Ed, who live in Germany. They were going to meet us at the airport and we didn't have enough time between flights.

We arrived in Kiev Sat. afternoon and were TIRED! We got to Valery's apartment and took an hour nap, then a long walk to keep awake. Valery treated us to a wonderful dinner he prepared. Then we took a second two hour nap and then were off to the train station. After we arrived in Ternopil, we slept for another three hours and now feel pretty "caught up".

We arrived at the orphange at around 1:30pm and met Natalya and the children. We were all so excited to see each other!!
All of us together!


We took the children, Valery, and Natalya and enjoyed lunch together.

The Last Walk Away
After lunch we decided to walk back to YWAM after purchasing three DVD movies for the kids. We got Tarzan2 in Russian, Meet the Robinsons in Ukranian, and the Water Horse in Ukrainian. We got movies that we don't have at home because they are originally in English and we can change the DVD to English for the rest of the family at home. During this walk they all asked at one time or another if they would ever have to go back to the orphange. We were glad to be able to tell them no. They will stay with us tonight--and get to wear their new pajamas! We will go back to the orphange tomorrow to sign some documents and pick up the things they want to bring home with them.


Before
Before

After - After taking showers and getting on their new clothes.
Showing off their new backpacks!

We're Leaving!!

We are walking out the door to go to O'Hare to catch our plane to Frankfurt! Then, we have a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt-and on to Kiev! We will post when we arrive!!!

One More Week

We received word this week that the international passports are done!! Yeah! So, we now have plane tickets--and Zenon and I will be leaving next Friday, July 25, to return to Ukraine to get our children.

This second trip will be one week. When we arrive in Kiev on Saturday, we will take the midnight train to Ternopil and arrive 7:30am. By this time, I know we will need showers! (The last ones being Friday morning before we leave) We will go and spend the day with them on Sunday and bring them with us for good this time. Never needing to take them back to the orphanage again!! Monday morning we will get our passports from the passport office and on Monday night, we will once again get on the night train back to Kiev. In Kiev we will need to get required medical exams for each of them and submit our documents for their travel visas. This will take a few days. Then, Saturday we will board the plane for London. Stay over in London then arrive home on Sunday, August 3rd.

This week we've been painting Alex's room in anticipation of his new brothers. He chose a navy blue for two walls, and the opposite walls are orange (his favorite color!). Then, there is a green strip around the top. He has bunk beds, and we are hoping to add a loft so there will be beds for the three boys. This week most of his things have been sitting in the hallway, so we are ready for this project to be done.

It looks like a trip to Ikea will happen sometime this weekend. I need a dresser in Addie's room for her and Alina. Addie has limited storage as it is, and we need to expand it for the girls. I think we'll also be getting Alex a bookcase for his room from Ikea as well.

I want to thank all of our friends who have graciously given us furniture, a mattress, clothes, backpacks, and food. We have been very blessed by our friends and family.

I would like to mention that "NO, we're not crazy!" This is in response to someone looked at me the other day and said "Are you crazy?" I admit, my defenses went up. I hadn't thought of myself as crazy in general. But, I've discovered it looks like it to some people. Zenon and I have both been asked this question (maybe not that bluntly) many, many times in the last few months. Life is different for all of us. Every person makes choices for themselves and their families. All of our choices will be different. We live in different families, have unique lives, and are not all called to do the same things. He might call you to do something that fits your family that doesn't fit our family. Zenon and I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these children belong in OUR family. We LOVE them, and I can not wait to hold them next weekend and let them know that we will never leave them, and they will be loved unconditionally by us. They will now have a permanent family, and will never again be orphans. That is our promise to them.

Will it be easy to have six children? Of course not. "Easy" isn't what we considered when making this choice. We both know that there will be challenges, but also know that the Lord has called us to go and get the rest of our children from Ukraine. I can't wait to get off the airplane Aug. 3rd and have all of our children together!

THANK YOU again for all of your prayers, help, and encouragement. We truly have been blessed!

Home in Indiana

We arrived home last week, and it took a good four days to catch up--with the time change. The first morning home Zenon and I were up at 3:30am! Each day it moved closer to "normal". I have thoroughly enjoyed being with Elyse, Alex, and Addie. We both missed them so much!!

Here's the update: As to today, all of our paperwork is submitted. What we are waiting for are the International Passports for Ruslan, Yuri, and Alina. These can take up to three weeks to get back. So, at the moment we are planning on returning to pick up the children the weekend of the 25th of July. Two and a half weeks from now! I have communicated with the orphanage director, and she mentioned that Alina asks every day-- when are they coming to get us? She tells them that the paperwork is not all completed yet. It is very strange to know that there are 3 children, living in a foreign country, that are LEGALLY OURS! The only reason they aren't with us, is that they need their passports in order to leave the country. That being said, we are all so anxious to have them here, "Home in Indiana".

I set up a time with Natalya to talk with the children. We were able to talk with them this morning-- we set our alarm for 6am and were talking by 6:05! It was 2pm in Ternopil and they were waiting by Natalya for our phone call. Alina talked first--which didn't surprise either of us. She is very outgoing and LOUD! She is just a very loud girl! She first thing she asked was if Addie was around and could she talk to her. So, we woke Addie up (and Adeline is NOT a morning person), told her her sister was on the phone, and she was out of bed in a flash! They each spoke their own language--and then Alina told Zenon--"tell Addie to talk Ukrainian because I can't understand her". To which Zenon replied that she couldn't, then she said to him "Ok, then I'll talk to you, you translate what I said to her, then she can tell you, and you translate for me" He looked at me and said "OK"-- as if he didn't already know that translation is necessary!

Ruslan and Yuri both asked about Alex. Elyse and Alex each were sleeping over at friends' last night--being summer, they enjoy sleepovers. So, tomorrow we will call Ukraine again, and all the kids will be able to talk to each other. On Monday the Ukrainian Horbs will be off to camp for two weeks. When they return, we HOPEFULLY will be traveling to Ukraine to get them. When the kids asked this morning why we haven't come back yet, I started crying--I wish it would be sooner.

I am working on re-doing Alex's room for the boys. A bunch of Alex's stuff is sitting in the hallway, and then we will begin by painting his room. I am hoping to get it done this next week. We're looking at adding a loft to the Boys' Room and getting dressers for both bedrooms. It's fun and crazy all at once. A bunch of Alex's stuff is sitting in the hallway, and then we will begin by painting his room. Addie has taken out some toys from her room and put them into the playroom. She's getting excited about having a sister to share her room with.

PRAYER REQUEST: Our first trip took two weeks longer than expected and on July 5th the plane fares went up by $500/ticket. We had been planning on taking our kids with us to meet their new siblings and all come home together. Please pray that we will be able to come up with the money to allow this to still happen. Elyse, Alex, and Addie have been looking forward to this trip, and we also view it as a major life experience. We want them to be able to see the country where their grandparents came from. This history/legacy is important to both Zenon and myself. We are hopeful that this trip will work out, but if not, please pray that we won't be too disappointed.

LAST DAY IN UKRAINE-TRIP #1

Today is our last day in Ukraine. We are headed back home and have an overnight in the highly overpriced city of London. We were able to have breakfast with Karen and Maxim and take some last minute photos of downtown Kiev. The return trip is bittersweet-on the one hand it's a good feeling to be able to be going home to see our kids Elyse, Alex, and Addie. On the other hand it's disappointing that we are not coming home with Ruslan, Yuri and Alina.

We enjoyed breakfast at a cafe with Maxim and Karen.

We took a few pictures downtown Kiev this morning.
Karen & Monique

Zenon posing in his new flag!



I did however want to share with you (our faithful relatives, friends and fans) a little taste of Ukrainian culture/idiosyncrasies.

We thought we would give you a window into some of the daily living on our trip here to Ukraine. Lest any of you think that this was a "vacation".


We experienced some very good food here. But discovered that the price in the menu for food doesn't mean the total price for the entree, but the price per gram, they weigh food from restaurants! The other thing we noticed right away is that the food items are cooked one item at a time. This means the first person to get their food will most likely be done with their meal by the time the last person gets their food. We discovered at most restaurants that the food is not prepared to be served to all parties at the same time! So, when your meal came, you just began to eat or it would be cold by the time the last meal was served! Unfortunately, we have had fairly constant "nausea"--and think we've both lost at least ten to fifteen pounds! So, if any of you are interested in a sure-fire way to lose some weight--come to Ukraine!

We became very aware of needing to use the WC(toilet). We made sure we went before we ventured out. This was a quickly learned lesson because there was a fee to use the public restrooms (not that it was expensive)! We agreed that gas-station bathrooms ranked higher than these--UGH! Monique had never used the bathroom without a seat before!

An "electric bus"
We had the privilege of "living among the natives" by riding public transportation, renting apartments instead of hotels, etc... You quickly adapt to "the smell". Not that its a pleasant smell, more like I have to vomit smell. The worse news is that as time went along, I could tell that even my body started to produce this same type of "odor". When you ride public transportation during rush hour, personal space consists of the person next to you rubbing all over you. Forget about air flow, windows are not always open, so you are able to enjoy a warm stench. OK, enough about bad BO.

Personal Space and Waiting In Line. We in America have come to expect our "own personal space". This consists of approximately about 18 inches of air space between you and the next person. This isn't so here. When waiting in line for anything, we expect to go one at a time. When some people come into a location requiring a wait, they might look to see if a line exists, but many of them immediately walked right up to the head of the line (what we would call "cutting" or "line jumping")and began taking care of their own business. The next thing which was a little uncomfortable while being in line is that as one person is speaking across the desk/through the window, the next person in line is shoving to the desk/window as well --any many times begins to talk right over the person taking care of business. We decided that in order to "keep your place in line" you must practically hover right on top of the next person in order to keep your spot or someone might just cut you without a second glance!

Cabbage for sale At the markets, all kinds of foods are purchased. Cabbage is a staple here. We have never seen so much cabbage in our lives, let alone truckloads of it for sale.

We hope that you were able to get a feel of some of the culture here!