GUILTY AS CHARGED!!

According to the Ukraine government, we are not fit parents to have 2 children; we must have more!!! So, the court granted our request to adoptAlexis. We now have to wait 10 days for any appeals (a formality) and then she's all ours.









It was a great morning in court, followed by some excitement in the afternoon.











We went on a sight-seeing tour and got in some trouble. We stopped to look at some old locks, the kind used for boats to navigate between 2 bodies of water that do not have the same water level.

We jumped over a small wall (3 ft or so) and walked down to get a closer look with our guide. Stephen took some photos and shot a short video. When we returned back to the wall, we were greeted by a yelling and irate military police person. He took Stephen's passport and refused to give it back. We had to follow him to a building, which we later found out was a former KGB office. Someone important there listened to our innocent story (as told by our guide). He had Stephen delete the photos and video, returned Stephen's passport, and told us he was letting us go because we were in the country doing the humane act of adopting a child.


Whew!! That was interesting, exciting, and a bunch of other things, especially for the 20 minutes or so that Stephen was no longer in possession of his passport.








Back to Alexis... We've determined that all her plumbing works. We fed her vegetable baby food one day, which she promptly threw up along with her breakfast. A couple of days ago, we gave her apple juice, and she proceeded to have 2 "blow-out" diapers. For you Pampers-challenged people, that's a diaper with stuff coming out the side. And we finally got to change her diaper because she wet it. Like we said, the plumbing checks out.

IMPORTANT DAY TOMORROW

Tomorrow(Tuesday) is a most important day for us.









We (minus Alexis) go to court before a judge and have our adoption request reviewed and preliminarily approved. If approved (and it is extremely rare that adoption requests are denied at this point), we have a 10-day waiting period during which someone can contest the adoption. Again, this is very, very rare.



















So, on the 11th day after tomorrow, Alexis is ours, excepting some minor details like a new birth certificate, Ukrainian passport, and U.S. embassey check through procedures.









Here is probably how things will skake out. Two weeks from today (Monday) we will handle the last of the administrative tasks here (passport, etc). We will then travel that evening to Kiev. The following day (Tuesday), we will handle everything at the U.S.Embassey.

As those dates get closer, we'll start to schedule our flight back to Denver for probably Thursday.









Keep your fingers crossed.









Alexis sends her love.

COMMUNICATION BREAKTHROUGH!!

Okay, okay... you hear this story from every parent, so why should we be different?

As we've continued to spend time with Alexis, she has opened up to us more and more. And we've seen her make progress in her walking and other motor skills.

Yesterday, she said Mama... twice!!! We're not real sure if she understood what she was saying or that she even was saying anything, but she did say "Mama, Mama." That made Pam very happy. It didn't bother Stephen at all as family is the sole focus here.

And today, Alexis waved bye-bye (or hello) to some people walking by. She seem very deliberate in her actions. But, she wouldn't do it again. And why not; she had already waved once to those people so there was no need in doing it again.

We're both simply ecstatic with her and her progress. Everyday, she grows right before our very eyes.

Nice Break in the Weather!!

We've been very fortunate today and yesterday. The weather finally cooled off a bit, from the mid 90s into the lower 80s.

That's a nice break because of the conditions at the orphanage. When we visit Alexis each time, we are given completely private time with her, which is nice. We often meet up with other couples who are adopting and have the children play together. We've met 2 couples from Israel and one couple from Italy. They are all adopting a boy (obviously, not the same boy!).

But our time is always outside where it is hot. There are many large trees on the orphanage grounds to provide shade, but underneath each tree you always find one of three things... dirt, weeds, or asphalt. There is no nice soft grass here on which to play. So, we get down on the ground and get dirty which makes it seem even hotter. We are thankful for the cool weather these past 2 days.

Alexis is really coming to life. We thought she might just be an extremely mellow child, but she definitely has a personality and a zest for life. Now, she whips her head back and forth when we try to clean her face. She looks away when we offer food and she wants no more. She squirms to get out of our arms when we wants to get down and play (just say no to kisses!). Those are all normal for children and we're glad she's showing us that side of her. She has still yet to cry. She did once for about 3 seconds but that's like a nanosecond in big people time, so we don't even count that.

Alexis really loves a freshly mashed up banana and Cheerios. We brought some sort of baby food the other day that had a squash photo on the front. (Food for Alexis is often a "surprise" too.) She ate two spoon fulls with the ugly-taste face and then proceeded to throw up everything she ate for breakfast. Needless to say, we won't feed her that anymore.

She also loves to play with the stackable cups and already has a favorite rattle toy.

NICE BREAK FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS

We've been very fortunate today and yesterday. The weather finally cooled off a bit, from the mid 90s into the lower 80s.

That's a nice break because of the conditions at the orphanage. When we visit Alexis each time, we are given completely private time with her, which is nice. We often meet up with other couples who are adopting and have the children play together. We've met 2 couples from Israel and one couple from Italy. They are all adopting a boy (obviously, not the same boy!).

But our time is always outside where it is hot. There are many large trees on the orphanage grounds to provide shade, but underneath each tree you always find one of three things... dirt, weeds, or asphalt. There is no nice soft grass here on which to play. So, we get down on the ground and get dirty which makes it seem even hotter. We are thankful for the cool weather these past 2 days.

Alexis is really coming to life. We thought she might just be an extremely mellow child, but she definitely has a personality and a zest for life. Now, she whips her head back and forth when we try to clean her face. She looks away when we offer food and she wants no more. She squirms to get out of our arms when we wants to get down and play (just say no to kisses!). Those are all normal for children and we're glad she's showing us that side of her. She has still yet to cry. She did once for about 3 seconds but that's like a nansecond in big people time, so we don't even count that.

OUR DAY

We thought we'd provide everyone with some insight into our daily routine and our life here. The three photos are of the outside entrance to our apartment and the stairs leading up to our apartment door. Not exactly a pretty sight, huh?











This is typical though. The owners of the buildings don't do much for exterior upkeep. However, the owners of each apartment unit do a lot of work on the inside. The owner of our unit has refurbished the apartment and rents it to people like us. We have a small family room with satellite TV (over 1,000 channels), a bedroom with a double bed, a small kitchen, and a nicely done bathroom. We have air conditioning and a washer. Overall, the place is quite clean and "nice," but very small and definitely not a place you would consider from the outside. There are no bugs running around and we feel quite safe. (Again, once you get inside.)




Stephen is in heaven here. Our apartment is directly above a grocery store and right across the street from a flea market. We also have a bank, post office, and several restaurants within a couple of hundred yards of the apartment. We are extremely pleased with our living arrangements.

Each morning we get up and go to the orphanage for a 9:30-11am visit with Alexis. We are very fortunate to have a car and driver just for us, which makes getting to and from the orphanage easy. We return to the apartment about 11:15am. Stephen usually has fresh bread, meats, vegetables, and cheeses for making sandwiches. We do not get to return to the orphanage until 4pm so we have most of the afternoon off. The typical afternoon consists of picking a direction, take off walking, and stopping to poke our heads in every store/business we come to. Pam has come across some wonderful bakeries that way.

Our visit to the orphanage in the evening is from 4 to 6 pm. Afterward, we stop at the local post office and call the boys. (We can'twait to get home and see you, Darian and Trevor. We love you very much!!). We then have dinner out somewhere. At many restaurants, we break out a small travel book and point to the Russian/Ukrainian versions of such terms as chicken, ham, beef, etc. We then have "dinner surprise" and we have yet to be disappointed. The people here are genuinely wonderful and most anxious to acommodate us linguistically challenged Americans.

We then buy whatever we need for the next day (Alexis' stuff for the orhpanage, fruits and pastries for breakfast, etc) and head back to the apartment. Going up the apartment stairs at night requires a flashlight. We usually hit the sack at 10pm or so as our day is very exhausting.



That's all for now. Again, thanks for all your comments, prayers, and support. We do sincerely appreciate them. Alexis sends her love. She can't wait until we arrive home and has a big party to meet all of you.

MORE ALEXIS

We've got more photos and more stories to tell. First to everyone who has provided a comment, God bless you!!

Each day we spend with Alexis she responds more openly to us and makes progress.

Although she has yet to speak (in English anyway), she's making a number of repetitive sounds. You know... the tongue going back and forth, etc. She loves to repeat our actions. We do peek-a-boo and tickles and she responds in kind. Her version of a kiss is that of a normal child, wide open mouth with lots of drool. We don't mind.

Each day, we take Cheerios, a banana, animal crackers, regular saltine crackers, and yogurt with us. Alexis would probably be content eating all the time with us, but we know she needs also to eat at her regular times. She drinks straight from a cup and no sort of sippy attachment. And she doesn't do a straw. We're always very sad when we have to return her to the orphanage workers. But they are very loving and you can tell they are fond of Alexis. When they bring her to us each time we visit, Alexis breaks out into a big grin and reaches for Pam. Stephen doesn't mind. Alexis already knows he's the guy who cooks, so she makes her way into his arms just a few minutes after lots of kisses from Pam.