Day 20 - The Cat in the Hat

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house

All that cold, cold, wet day

I sat there with "Sally".

We sat there, we two.

And SHE said "How I wish

We had something to do!"

Too wet to go out

And too cold to play ball.

So we sat in the house.

We did nothing at all.

So all we could do was to

Sit!

Sit!

Sit!

Sit!

And we did not like it.

Not one little bit.

The heart clock @ John & Donna's place

Yes, today it rained all day. At our usual time to go out for lunch, we put on our make up and went out ... only to discover it was raining harder than we thought it was. She has a light jacket, but I only have a light hoodie (well now that I think about it I have a better hoodie, but neither are water proof). 

So, instead of walking all the way to the mall to our usual pizza spot (Celantano) we went to Billa and bought food for the rest of the day. We needed to go to Billa anyway for essentials like TP, drinking water, and breakfast foods, so we made the most of it and also brought back cooked bone-in chicken (thighs I think), sliced salami, Swiss cheese, bread, and snacks. 

We had chicken and chips for lunch. My new favorite is the one with a red bell pepper on the front. Since NOTHING here is spicy, I figured it was worth the risk and I LOVE them!! While we ate I told her she needed to work on English lessons for 20 mins today and 30 mins tomorrow. She frowned! I asked if she wanted to use the books we bought her here or my computer (Rosetta Stone). Since she hated Rosetta Stone over the summer I figured she would choose the books. I was wrong!

I restarted her lessons from the beginning of RS and she actually completed the entire first lesson (closer to 40 mins instead of 20). She got a 79%, which I think is really good! When we do RS at home with Dennis he gets to pass the lesson with an 80% ... I think I'll let that 1% slide! :)

After her lessons, I asked if she wanted me to do my lessons. She readily agreed, laughing! :) I am probably 1/3 of the way through the first level, but I decided to restart my lessons from the beginning as well. By about the 5th page she was upset that I hadn't missed any questions, yet, so she started trying to give me the wrong answers - haha very funny! :) I finally missed one and she laughed so hard she just about choked! She kept assisting me in the wrong answers and correcting my pronunciation of things, and laughing when I got an answer wrong. I scored a 96%.

Kyle playing with the bong ... 

After lessons I asked if she wanted to play games (we bought several here). She said no, so I brought out the coloring books, but had to do that on my own cause she wasn't interested. After a couple hours of TV watching, she was "in my face" again asking what we are doing today. (By in my face I mean literally if she wants my attention she leans over from the sofa to my arm chair and puts her face in mine, usually starts with a kiss kiss and then tickling and then whining about nothing to do). 

So, I got on google translate to see what she wanted. She wanted to know what to do today. I said ...  

"I know it is wet

And the sun is not sunny.

But we can have

Lots of good fun that is funny!"

(by the way, in the Cat in the Hat analogy, Brian is usually the Cat and I am the Fish!)

So, I listed all the things we have in the apartment, which we bought in Ukraine mostly, that she could do if she's bored. We have like 10 movies (all in Russian) from Barbie Christmas Carole to New Moon (note the 5 yr old inside the 14 yr old), 8 coloring books (My Little Pony to Moxie Girls), crayons, markers, colored pencils, 3 paint by numbers, blank art pad for drawing/painting, board games (Twister, memory games, etc.), card games, more studying English! :) 

Oh no ... she didn't want to do any of it ... still bored ... so I told her I had movies about dogs we can watch on my computer and she agreed to that. So, out came disk 2 of Dog Whisperer! :) I positioned the laptop so we could both watch and I climbed under the blanket with her on the sofa. She fell asleep after about 20-30 mins and slept for about an hour.

I moved into my bedroom with the laptop to work on the blog while she slept. When she woke up she crawled into my bed and I started up Dog Whisperer again. Then Brian pinged me on skype! He had internet access on the plane from Germany to the US. So, we chatted with him and Ashley for a bit and they sent us a photo from the airplane.

Kyle called and we got ready to meet him and John & Donna for dinner. Since my washing machine isn't working here I took some of my bigger stuff over to their place to do while we were having dinner. Our usual spot at Hotel Intourista was booked (party maybe?) so we had to figure out what to do for dinner ...

Brian, if you are reading this, you can stop reading now! WE TOOK THE BUS!!! It's only 2.50 gvn to take the bus so I made Kyle promise to take it with us because it was my first time and I wasn't comfortable with it, nor would I know where to get off!

After dinner we hung out at John & Donna's apartment and chatted about the girls (their girl's name is also Anya and she is 14), had some coffee, and took some pics. They have court tomorrow! We are thinking about meeting up for some cosmic bowling on Saturday.

Day 18 - 4.5 HOURS at the Hair Salon!!!

Daddy went home yesterday! We were bored and needed to find something mother-daughter like to do. I recommended manicures, but she had put glue on nails on just the day before. She had been asking for a hair cut so I thought now is as good a time as any! :) 

A work in progress

She asked a couple of different women on the street if they knew of a place we could go. After getting wrong directions and then having a stranger walk us nearly half the way back, we found a spot. I wasn't sure how much it was going to cost, but for 1 hair cut, I figured I could afford just about anything. She was asking about highlights, but I said I didn't think so, but we would ask. 

What a difference 4.5 hours in the salon can do! :)

Between my lack of Russian and her lack of English, it was a complicated process to ask how much for cut and highlights. When I heard the price, it was really low so I had to call a translator to be sure it was the correct thing she was getting. Yes, yes it was! Well, for that price I could risk getting my hair cut and highlights as well. 

Then there was some confusion over the timing as they cut my hair but didn't do the highlights, so I wasn't sure if they were going to do them. They said come back in 1 hour. I thought they meant to pick up Amber. I said I wasn't going to leave her there! No, they meant they had another customer and could start my highlights in 1 hour. I said I didn't want to wait as Amber would be done in an hour. They said, no her hair is long and it will take 2 hours or more. FOOO!!! She had already gotten started so it wasn't like I could tell them to stop now!


They suggested a manicure while I waited - gee thanks! It was 45 mins of my hour wait and it was a good manicure for about $10, including tip. 


So 4.5 hours and approx $80 (including tips) later, we both had cuts and full highlights. It would have cost at least that for just my hair with partial highlights and no manicure in the US. It was a pretty good job on both of our hair.

Amber said my hair looked so different that she suggested we tell Daddy that skype was broken so that he wouldn't see it! She wasn't sure if he would like it, especially since they only know one style at the salon - blow dry it out straight. I have curly hair that does not respond well to being told what to do, so it took them longer than usual to get the style "correct." Have I mentioned how much I hate to just sit in a hair salon? Even with nothing else to do, I would rather not just sit and do nothing!

It had been cloudy all day, well the part that we saw before we walked in at noon and left at 4:30pm, but as soon as we stepped out it started to rain! We were a good 15+ minute walk back to the apartment, so we decided to try to save our hairdo's by stepping into the Introuist Hotel for dinner. It had stopped raining for the most part by the time we left.


The rest of the photos are on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2438844131932.140535.1276629484&type=1

My new do was looking a little better after
getting wind blown and rained on!

Day 14 - COURT TODAY!!

Petition to adopt Anya and change her name to Amber Noelle Macy has been approved! Let the 10 day waiting period begin!

Sergie dropped us off at the courthouse and then went back to pick up the rest of the people required for court. We waited in the hallway downstairs until the attorney arrived and then she took us upstairs and we waited in that hallway. Shortly Sergie and Amber arrived and we waited a few minutes longer. Amber was nervous and I could tell she had been crying. We waited a few minutes more and then they let us into the small courtroom. 

Ashley and her buds, Lylia, Karolina & Alona

About four rows of benches lined up towards the back of the room and we played a bit of musical chairs while we figured out the best location for everyone to sit so that Sergie could translate for us. Against the left side of the room was a desk with some chairs behind it. A woman at a computer at the desk, I assume she was the court reporter. Another woman sat next to her and she was from the inspector's office. A man was next to her, and he was the court appointed prosecutor.

On the right side was a metal box that was painted light blue. It was obviously for the criminals! I joked that I would take Brian's picture in it. Sergie said it was bad luck. I said I was just joking, he said they don't even joke about it! Opps ... sorry! Don't want to jinx our court hearing ...

The judge arrived and with her the two jurors, who were also female. All rise ... you may be seated ... the typical stuff ...

When the judge addresses you in court or you give a response you are to stand and then she will tell you when to be seated. She asked Brian to stand and give his name, birthday, address, etc. then she told him to sit and asked me to stand and give the same answers. Then each person that was there with "an interest" in the child stood and gave their responses to the same questions. 

After the introductions were done, she asked Brian to stand again and asked him why he was there. He said we would like to adopt Anya. He explained that I met Anya at the train station in Kiev after our previous adoption, and then we hosted her, love her, and want her to become part of our family. She asked if he wishes the court to satisfy the petition we submitted to the court. Um ... duh! 

She told me to stand and asked me the same question. I stated the same and that I met her in Kiev in January with Dennis. She asked me to explain that a little bit. I told her that Anya had been hosted previously curing Christmas 2010 and that when I was in Kiev finishing our adoption of Dennis that the children were returning from hosting and I spent some time with her at the train station. Then we hosted her over the summer and now we wish to adopt her.

Next each member of the court with an interest in the child stood and gave their opinions. The attorney from the school spoke about how she and Valentina (the deputy director) met me at the train station with Dennis. She spoke some about Anya's history (but we are keeping that private at this time) and said she would favor the adoption so that she could be with a family. The other members of the court said they also have no objections. No further questions.

Time for the big question ... what are you asking of the court? Brian read the 4 statements he had written down beforehand. She asked me the same thing and I also ready off the paper. She asked if anyone had any questions. No questions. She said she and the jurors would excuse themselves and would return in a few minutes with their decision.

Friends gathered around the car to say goodbye

She returned about 10 mins later and read off a paper, which I assumed was printed from the computer. The first 3 minutes of reading was legal hulabaloo!!! Then she said those magic words ... the court approves the petitioners request to adopt the child!!! YIPIEE!!!

I don't remember what happened until the end when we all hugged and Sergie congratulated us and we took a couple of pictures! Then we headed back to the school and spent some time with her friends. 

Here are some pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2428939684327.140163.1276629484

For dinner we met Kyle at a place called Sir Lancelot! The rooms were amazing (see photos) and each room had about 5-7 tables seating 2-6 people at each table. Each room had different decor on the Lancelot theme throughout the entire place. There was a chastity belt hanging on the wall above the toilet in the ladies restroom - hahaha! :)

We had live music played in our room and just to embarass others in the room we danced! Just to let you know HOW EPIC this is, it is only the 2nd time in our marriage that Brian has danced with me ... and this time I have proof (the only other time was on a cruise)!

Amber decided it was just too embarassing to watch, so she left the room. Ashley ran circles around us taking photos and video. Kyle had his ipad and took some good video for us ...  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PViRdpt1-1c&feature=share

The Dance

Day 13 - Another Visit to the School

Ashley getting the Ukrainian Princess treatment

Today we arrived at the school about 1:45pm after making a couple of stops in ZAP to check into some stuff at the passport office and the tax ID office. For those adopting from here in the near future, see if your facilitator can get your child's tax ID info transferred to the office in Vilyansk because you can get their new tax ID number the same day from that office. You will need the new tax ID number (along with the new birth cert) in order to apply for the passport. They don't have anymore of the old style passport, which means you'll have to wait 3-5 days to get the passport back from Kiev. No, you can't just pick it up in Kiev - Ukr law says they have to be sent back to the region - yes, it's LAME!!!

When we arrived at the school Valentina met with us and showed us some of the new rooms in the school. She said an Italian family had made a donation and she used the money to upgrade the flooring, paint, plants, and drapes in the main hallway upstairs. In addition she updated a small classroom to be used for speech therapy. The room was brand new - had not even been used yet. She took great pride in telling us that they saved money by having the teachers do everything ... clean, paint, lay flooring, hang drapes - maybe even sew the drapes (they have several sewing rooms). They had some equipment to be used for massaging the lips/tongues of the children for therapy. Brian told her that our adopted son Dennis needed speech therapy, but did not receive it in Ukraine.

Amber & Vera
They are going to have a hard time saying goodbye

Then she showed us the computer room. I told her Brian works for IBM and she seemed please. I asked her what the children learn on the computers, she said how to use computer, typing and such, and other subject. I also saw books in the back and math facts on the walls. It didn't seem like the room gets used much, which would be unfortunate.

Mozel & Lylia getting in those bunny ears!

After that we hung out in the yard with the kids, as usual. We brought a volleyball so some of the kids and I did that for a while and Brian kept eye on the ipad and he got out his laptop, so they were crowded around that also. When I took a rest Brian played some v-ball with some different kids. Mozel, Karolina, Lylia and I got into a game of rabbit earns in pictures and they enjoyed some laughter and games around me ... see photos! :) So far all these kids are really good natured and I think they would blossom in a family. We didn't see some of our usuals ... Yulia and Masha we saw from a distance. Vera we saw only for the one pic we have of her and then she was gone, hopefully in class! :)

Lucia, Amber & Tanya

We had dinner back in ZAP at a place by the "train" tracks that we went to a couple nights ago (the musical instruments Ashley is posed with). It's like a metrobus that runs on train tracks, so I don't know exactly what to call it. Brian had goose in blackberry sauce and I had the veal cutlets he had last time ... it was better last time! :)

Alona

Mozel

Karolina

Slavic

Lylia, showing off her current crocheting project

Day 11 & 12 - The Horse Show & The Doctor

I lost a day because I didn't blog ... so I'll post about 2 days again and then tomorrow after court and over the weekend I will catch up again. We didn't go to the school on Tuesday or Wednesday because we have had Amber with us at the apartment in Zap. I blogged about Monday already and getting our court date, so until Friday we are just in a holding pattern. Unless we have a good reason to drive out to the school, which is 30-40 mins depending on traffic, we just hang out in ZAP at the apartment or shopping. We go out for 2 meals per day and eat snacks and coffee for breakfast! :) 

On Tuesday we did quite a bit of shopping. We had lunch at McD's and then went to Ashan (like walmart) and there is a tiny mall next to it. We got a dress there and then went to the open market to get some shoes and try to find some earrings - no earrings were located. We had some ice cream then went back to the apartment.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2421987630530.139943.1276629484

The first 5 pics of this album are of dinner that night. It was good and the atmosphere was dark inside and they played American songs, but in elevator style music. They even had Michael Jackson's BEAT IT re-done into "smooth jazz" style. We all had a good laugh about it. The meal was good and would have easily cost $150+ in the US ... it was about $60 here! :)

Since I couldn't post on facebook that she is with us off campus, there is also a private album of photos of her doing stuff with us in Zap. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2438844131932.140535.1276629484&type=1These photos spam the entire time she has been with us "unofficially"  so that I could post other pics in regular facebook albums for all to enjoy. 

On Wed we went out to the island again (20 min drive) to the horse show. Most of the photos are of the show. Men in age from young adults to quite a bit older than that, were dressed in "old fashioned" attire from the Casack region. They did some "dances" with long poles with flags on them and did some tricks with whips. The rest of the show as the guys doing tricks on the horses. If you're coming to this area, it's a decent thing to do for an hour. I don't know how bad they let the weather get and keep running the show, but I'm betting they stop showing it in November sometime once it's too cold to be outside.

Amber & Brian @ the horse show

After that Brian got dropped off near McD's to do some shopping/wandering and Sergie took me to the doctor. It was quite the ordeal just to find one. I asked the people I know here about it and they asked someone else and talked to Sergie and we located one. You don't go to the public hospitals here where medical care is free, so a private doctor needed to be found. Not just any doctor, but one that specializes in nasal issues. The first place we went to didn't have the right specialist, to Sergie got online to locate another.

This place was difficult to find and the GPS sent us the wrong way down a 1 way street. Once we finally got around that, we came to the medical complex, but it was on the other side of a very large fence surrounding the entire building and several others. We walked around for a bit trying to locate and entrance, but we mostly found homeless people, so we went back to the car.

We drove around in circles for a while and then he called them to get directions. Someone stayed on the phone with him to direct him to the place. Once we got there the guard at the gate told us one building and when we got inside the guard there told us another ... a 4th phone call sent us back to the first building and to the 6th floor. Fortunately they had a lift, otherwise I don't think I'd have made 6 flights of stairs at this point!

We sat outside the dr's office for about 40 minutes and then the doc finally came to see me. He took about 5 minutes with me and decided I didn't have any infection, but allergies due to the different climate or whatever around here! REALLY??? I could have told you that! But, the stuff I brought from home for allergies wasn't working, so he gave me 3 things to try ... 2 sprays and some pills. He said to come back in 2 days if I'm not any better. Even if I wasn't any better, I don't think I'd go back!

320 grivna (divide by 8 to get USD) later I had my meds and we went back to the apartment. Brian wasn't back yet, so we called to ask if he wanted a ride. He did not and he brought us back some pizza for dinner ... I was just too tired to go back out.

Last night after taking the meds I was maybe 25% better. I woke up at 7am today (Thursday) and couldn't breathe, so I got up and took all the meds again. I laid back down and slept for another 2 hours! About lunch time I used some more spray and I have been much better most of the day. About dinner time I started having issues again ... but, I'm still not going back to the dr tomorrow!

Scenes from the horse show

Day 9 & 10 - We have a Court Date!

WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!!

Nothing special to report about Sunday. We basically just chilled and hung around the apartment, did a small amount of shopping, ate meals, watched TV, played on the ipad/computers, etc. 

Monday however we went back to the school to visit with the kids and Sergie left us there and went to see the judge about our court date. Our time with the kids was pretty good. We brought 4 balls with us and gave 2 to the boys and 2 to the girls! They boys I think will take anything they can get their hands on! :)

The teacher made the class pose for a photo

I had brought a stack of photos that another FB friend had taken of the kids during a Happy Child excursion in the area. They don't have many, if any, photos of themselves or their trips so they are very happy to get some photos. The boys would pull at the photos, even if they were not in them! The girls were not pleased about the boys getting photos of them and 1 photo even got ripped in half! :( Mostly the photos were of the girls and they were happy to share with each other and also wanted the extra photos I brought of Anya/Amber. 

Ashley & Karolina playing a good game of keep-a-way from Sergie

Brian and Ashley played some b-ball with the boys. Ashley and one of the girls broke into a game of keep-a-way from one of the good natured teen boys! The fact that he puts up with Ashley's antics shows us just what a good heart he has! :) He'll do great during hosting, I'm quite sure! :) Some of the other boys, not so much! They are rough and aggressive and don't know when to back down ... of course neither does Ashley!

Amber & a friend in one of the sewing rooms

One of the teen girls, who has been to the US for hosting, was my new buddy today. The only time she wasn't attached to my hip was when Amber was near me. She "knew her place" when Amber was around, but when she was off with daddy or other friends, this sweet one was hugging me or hold my hand. She is shyer than some of the others, but stuck close by for longer and was always quick to return. The others find their friends and run off here and there.

The Boys' Room - I counted 12 beds

These kids suffer from a horrible amount of just being bored!!!! I am surprised they don't have classes for longer, just to keep them occupied. Smoking and other mischief could be avoided more readily if they had things to entertain themselves with. The balls helped, but not for long. One of those rough boys kicked the ball as as as he could against the wall over and over again until the thing busted at the seam - another one bites the dust!

Vladys - minor special needs
Available for hosting through NHFC
http://www.newhorizonsforchildren.org/

This is like high school, only amplified because they also live together. There are the cool kids ... the wild ones ... the ones that no one likes ... the ones the cool kids tolerate but don't really like ... and the special needs kids. Some of the kids it is obvious they have special needs and the others take a while to watch them, but based on how the other kids treat them, they have something going on.

I was able to find a few that are on the NHFC hosting list for the Christmas season and am happy to report that most seem like great kids! A few I'm going to have to email LeAnn about, however.

Bunny ears transcend all ages, gender, and nationalities!

When Sergie returned, he informed us that we have a court date - FRIDAY! YES, this Friday Sept 23rd @ 10am!!! Very quick court date indeed. For those interested in the adoption timeline, our SDA appt was on the 12th, so this is 11 days from then, but 15 days into our trip. Don't make this your PLAN, however, as this is much more quickly than things usually go with adoptions. Everything has gone REALLY smoothly for us, but don't count on that being the case when you come. It was 3.5 weeks before we were assigned court during our first adoption!!!

Masha & Yulia - attached at the hip!

After we got done at the school, we headed back to ZAP and sat for about 1.5 hours at the notary office to get our power of attorney forms done so that I can get Amber out of the country after Brian leaves next week. The current plan is for him to leave on Wednesday.

Photos from today: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2414672487656.139687.1276629484