First Halloween

Amber has been looking forward to having her first Halloween. We went together and picked out costumes last week. She did seem to understand dressing up and getting candy was part of the Halloween experience.

Amber as a Butterfly

Amber hasn't started public school yet, so she spent the day with me at home and the siblings went to school. We did actually go to Party City to get a last minute costume for the sister that almost didn't get to participate in Halloween activities due to some bad behaviors over the previous week. 

Ashley as an Angel

As soon as the last kid got home from school, we cooked up some take-n-bake pizza for dinner and got into costumes. A friend of Ashley's called to see if she could go trick or treating with us, so I explained they would be going to the community center for trunk or treating, but she could meet up with us there.

Dennis as Spiderman

Dad "volunteered" (or he was volunteered) to take the kids to the community center trunk or treating event. I was told by a local friend that the main street of Lovettsville is a good place to go door to door after the event as the businesses and homes there are all decked out and participate in trick or treating afterwards. Either that friend doesn't quite get the concept, or the previous years have been better.

Sam as the Dark Knight/Batman

Since I still have a broken foot on the mend, I stayed home and manned the front door. We literally only had about 5 sets of kids at the door! I enjoyed eating most of the candy (just kidding)!

Amanda as a Fairy

Upon their return home they dumped all their candy out on the table and were given until 9:00pm (almost 35 minutes) to eat as much candy as they want/can. This is a tradition handed down by my mother-in-law so as to avoid any more candy being eaten in the following days/weeks after Halloween. My husband was all over the idea. And, since we have candy stealing issues in our house (won't name which members of the family), I agreed that it was probably the best plan.

The rest of the Halloween pics are on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2567921838794.144567.1276629484&type=3. 

Watch the Halloween/candy eating video posted in the right column here on the blog or on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4V0N3THC4c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Yeah, more pictures!

Halloween Video

Two Weeks and Counting ...

It is such a great time of year to bring home a new child, whether through birth or adoption -- a "fall baby" is a wonderful thing. October, November, December, and January are a fun filled 4 months of the year with one thing after another to do, see, visit, explore, learn, season changes, snow, fires in the fire place, stores filled with holiday cheer, trimming the tree, and in our family we have several fall/winter birthdays!

Since we just brought Dennis home too, in January of this year, this fall is his first with our family as well, so it will be exciting to see his reactions to the American fall/winter and holiday traditions! (He LOVED Valentine's Day in February and Easter in the spring!)

The first big event of the fall is of course Halloween, which wouldn't be complete without the experience of pumpkin carving! Each of our 5 kids choose their own pumpkin and design for the cut out. Dad got everyone started and Amber did most of the carving for everyone else! I guess she liked that part.

Amanda getting messy

Sam getting down to business!

Amber helping Dennis

The the winners are ... in no particular order

Amber

Amanda

Sam

Dennis

The rest of our pumpkin carving fun can be seen on FB:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2556193905603.144105.1276629484&type=3

This 2nd week home has been a mix of fun stuff, stressful stuff, and just plain ol' settling in type stuff. 

On the fun list

• pumpkin carving
• picking out and trying on Halloween costumes (stay tuned next week for exciting details!!)
• shopping for new shoes for school
• shopping for a winter coat since it's supposed to SNOW tomorrow (did someone say it was only October???)
• visiting her new school
• staying up past bedtime watching Russian DVD's and sipping hot apple cider
• singing Jingle Bells in the store because Home Depot and Sears already have Christmas stuff on display!
• 
  

On the stressful list

• registering for school
• visiting said school
• updating vaccines to start school, including getting a false positive TB skin test
• having a chest xray to rule out active TB infection because Ukraine gives the BCG vaccine, which makes nearly all kids have a positive skin test
• still not having the dr agree that a clear chest xray will suffice, and possibly will need to visit the infectious disease center and take 6-9 months of unnecessary meds
• 6 vials of blood drawn to verify childhood immunizations and other organ functions
• FINALLY getting all the medical stuff done after 2 days of running around like a chicken with her head cut off (oh, that would be MOM)
• mom getting a pretty bad cold, on top of having a broken foot on the mend

Lunch @ Chick-fil-A after a full morning of shopping

On the just plain ol' stuff list

• rough-housing with the dogs
• having a dog "love bite" her on the buttocks
• calling said dog "su musheshi" !!!
• having to get up at 6:30am two morning in a row to get medical stuff done to start school
• hauling and stacking more firewood with dad
• English lessons @ home
• ESOL lessons @ church
• Math lessons @ home - learning the concept of borrowing in double digit subtraction! (does this go on the fun or stressful list ... I couldn't decide)
• Helping Mom set the table and learning which side the forks go on
• 
  

Ashley w/Blue Spruce we won through
Dutchman Tree Farms

Tomorrow (Saturday) we are supposed to drive to an Olan Mills portrait studio in West Virginia to get our updated family photos taken. The weather forecast is calling for 1-4 inches of snow with possible accumulation tomorrow in the Shenandoah Valley, but we'll see. They've called for school closures due to snow before and then the snow never happened! :) I do think this will be the earliest snow fall on record if it really does snow tomorrow!

Home One Week

As of yesterday, Friday, October 21, 2011 Amber has been home exactly 1 week! It's been a fairly easy week ... as easy as it could be after being gone for 35 days, bringing home a new teenage girl, and having 5 kids at home! 

Ashley, Dennis, Sam & Amanda - waiting for us @ Dulles

Saturday: mostly a blur! Jet leg not too bad, yet. Got to sleep in. Unpacked & did some laundry. Amber decided to try to dress up our dogs! Brian took Amber & Ashley out for a pretty long shopping trip. Brian's FB post for the day:Ashley, Amber, and I went shopping like crazy. Library, bank, propane, home depot, tractor supply, kohls for a couple of outfits, and Costco. Did well until she saw how big the Costco list was and told me she had a headache... Was a trooper though. She likes Perrier for water. Oh and we went to Walmart to get her her own bicycle but Melissa doesn't know that yet ;) I might have been in a fog, but I just had to reply ...  Yes, yes Melissa knew already, but thanks for playing! :) Did you get Dennis a helmet like I asked you to?

See the rest of the dog fashion show:  

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1300795561641.2045287.1282986802&type=3

Sunday: went to Sunday School at Purcellville Baptist Church (our regular church) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purcellville-Baptist-Church/166610222751 Amber and Ashley went to youth group. Brian took Amber and Ashley to the Russian speaking church we visited with the hosted girls during the summer. I brought the rest of the kids home and we had a fairly quite Sunday afternoon. Once Brian got home he decided the lawn needed mowing. He broke the mower in the process! :) Then, he let Amber drive it! However, these are good blackmail pictures for other kids, adopted or not, who are being lazy and don't want to help with chores! She'd been home less than 48 hours at this point! :)

Monday: I honestly don't remember what we did on Monday other than a little bit of English lessons on the computer!  For those interested parties, we use http://www.busuu.com/ and http://www.livemocha.com/. Both are free, but livemocha has a more robust lesson program for free ... video of the entire lesson first, then self-directed, then printed materials & flashcards, then a test both written and verbal skills. Busuu I only use to teach the alphabet since livemocha does not have it. I remember she helped with the dishes after dinner. She asked me if she could help! I certainly wasn't going to turn down help from my new daughter! Honestly, I wouldn't turn down help from anyone at this point!

Tuesday: GIRL SHOPPING TRIP! We went to the mall in Frederick, MD. Sears & JC Penny's. Didn't get any great deals, but did get some nice sales. Other than the regular jeans/shirts she also got some jewelry and a nice jacket to replace the pink/black plaid one that Dad was complaining about! We both took some choices into the dressing room for her and she tried almost everything one.

See the outfits the passed the test here: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2307456087313.135559.1276629484&type=3

This dress it the black version of the 

dress that Snezhana (the other girl we hosted) 

got in grey during the summer! 

The best deal of the day $40 dress for $11.99

Wednesday: I took the van in to get an oil change and tires rotated and then had lunch with some friends from my previous workplace. Amber went with me of course. I have been an AWANA leader on and off for the past 15 years. Last year our church re-started the program on Wednesday nights and I was one of the primary leaders. Our church also offers ESOL on Wednesday nights as a community service to those who are learning English and one of my friends teaches there. So, I took Amber to ESOL and my other kids to AWANA on Wednesday night.

Amber choose gifts from Ukraine for each family member, 

and got herself this egg.

Our shrine to Ukraine! 

To see the rest of the gifts from Ukraine visit:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2517113848626.142911.1276629484&type=3

Thursday: I think Amber got a bit home sick on Thursday. She spent most of the day in her room reading (Russian books) and making crafts, and took a nap. Maybe it was delayed jet lag? She made a GIANT snowflake, which now hangs proudly in Dad's office. Ashley insists that Amber must show her how to make one! She also made an I <3 Mama drawing. Our family friend, Jamie brought her puppies and came over for dinner and a visit. I usually get together with her for girls' night out about once a month, so I hadn't seen her in a while. Brian made borscht for dinner.

Friday: this morning we took Amber's registration paperwork over to the school. She will have testing next week at the school she will actually attend, to determine grade placement and what level of ESL services she will be receiving. In the afternoon I took her with me to my foot doctor and it was confirmed that I have a stress fracture in my left foot above the 2nd toe. Dr taped my foot up to immobile the toe and put me in a walking boot! Amber went with me and we purchased Halloween costumes, had lunch, and then went to my dr. When I came out of the office in the walking boot she couldn't stop laughing! She laughed all the way to the car as I hobbled behind her! She wanted to call one of her friends (Russian speaking) and tell her about it - I said NO! :) Friday night we had popcorn and movie night at our house - Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

At some point during the week I won a potted Christmas tree through 
Dutchman Tree Farms (online fundraising company) 
and it arrived this week as well.

Day 35 - WE ARE HOME!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that we made it home on Oct 14, 2011 approx 4:15pm Amber Noelle became a US citizen! :)

Kyle & Amber on the plane from Ukraine to Germany

Both flights were mostly uneventful, which is always good! We had Kyle with us on the first leg from Ukraine to Germany. We had to get up at 3:00 to get a ride to the airport and we were all quite tired and a bit punchy! Passport control and security wasn't a problem for us. Luggage was under the weight limit, thankfully! My phone was out of grivna and my laptop out of battery power, so I wasn't able to communicate with Brian, so he finally just called us!

We got some lattes at the airport and then stood in line to board the bus over to the airplane. Even in an international airport they board the planes right on the tarmac rather than using a walkway. Flight was just over 2 hours and they served a small breakfast for eggs with bell peppers and mushrooms, side of bread and a small dessert type muffin (which was nasty). Amber ate both mine and Kyle's mushrooms, as well as her own, but she didn't like the eggs so I ate her eggs! :)

In Germany

Layover in Germany was 3 hours and it was a LONG three hours. Kyle's flight got delayed from 11am departure to 1:30. He tried to get on my flight, which left at 12:20, but no such luck. Security was TIGHT trying to leave Germany as they had extra security check points with questions and I had to show my passport 3 times before boarding the plane!

I was not looking forward to my Luftansa operated by United 8+ hour flight home, but it was one of the newly renovated 777 planes with the 3 seats isle, 3 seats in the middle isle, 3 seats isle configuration. Our plane to Ukraine last month had 5 across the middle section and I was in dead center surrounded on all sides barely able to move! Any 2 seats together on this flight would have been an isle or window seat! I had the window, which is the best for me as I get motion sick when banking and landing!

Ashley, Dennis, Sam & Amanda
Waiting @ Dulles for our arrival - we were an hour delayed

The on board personal media systems were pretty awesome! Touch screen with about 20 movie options and 10 TV shows (start/stop any time), along with games and music ... full coverage ear phones, though no volume control. A few of the kids movies they had Russian audio options for, but Amber mostly slept or tried to sleep by laying in my lap. Not being able to move around to get more comfortable was my only complaint, but having a 14 yr old trying to nap in your lap is not something one experiences every day, so I certainly couldn't complain too much! :)

Our plane landed almost exactly 1 hour late, much to the dismay of my my husband with 4 kids at the airport who had been there to meet us on time! Our original flight path had to be diverted due to some rather large thunder clouds, which were not impacting weather at Dulles. They were probably 2 hours out from our original landing time. At first the pilot said that since we had been diverted we lost our spot "in line" and would be arching out over the ocean (we had come down through Canadian air space) and he would have to wait for an opening and wasn't sure how long that would be. About 40 mins later he said we were back in the line for landing and would be landing within the hour! YIPPIE!

Trying to survive through dinner once we got home

Passport control line coming into the US was long, but moved pretty quickly. The officer was quite nice, much more so than Germany's security screenings (sheeeesh!!!). Luggage was already there and pulled off the belt by the time we got through passport control. We got our bags and I asked Amber if she was ready and she shook her head, yes! We were not stopped at the exit to re-check our bags, so we burst through the double doors, and turned the corner, and Brian and the kids were right where they had been when they greeted me and Dennis back in January! :) Balloons and flower in hand!

Off to Red Robin we went for some grub and then went home to unload and hit the bed! I think everyone was out by 8:30PM!

Mom & the kids
Sam not being cooperative over in the corner!

Day 34 - LAST DAY IN UKRAINE!!!

I packed last night. This morning we had to leave the apartment around 10am and we moved to a hotel near the airport ... the hope is that we can get a few extra minutes of zzzz's before needing to be at the airport tomorrow at 3:15am! My wake up call is set for 2:30am and we'll be sleeping in our clothes! I just need a few minutes to wake up before hauling our bags out to the shuttle. The hotel is called Old Port Inn.


Thank God for small favors, we have a room on the ground floor. It's also near the exit doors. Only 1 bed and it's small, but it will do. This is the website for the hotel and below is a pic of our room. http://www.booking.com/hotel/ua/old-port-borispil-ukraine.uk.html?aid=331505%3Blabel%3Dold-port-borispil-ukraine-fd_5pyIH4J__HeVeQgI6LwS6950689397%3Bws%3D 

Before leaving town we of course had to get some souveneirs - 90% of them were nesting dolls. They have all kinds ... spiderman, sponge bob, dora, princess everything, sorts teams, American presidents, and of course traditional ones. Our dentist back home is married to a Russian woman and his daughter-in-law is Ukrainian. He treated our host children for a very good rate since we didn't have insurance for them. He collects frogs, so we located a frog for him and will give it to him the next time we come for a visit! :)

Nastya with us @ Cafe de Paris near the SDA market -
after a couple hours of shopping we were hungry

Tonight we will take a taxi back into the main city of Kiev (the airport is actually in Borispil) to meet some other new friends, Myron & Abby Yoder, for dinner before we depart! Tomorrow we have a 3 hour layover in Frankfort. I'll post pics from there if I can get internet access. We land at Dulles just after 3pm! 

TOMORROW ABOUT THIS TIME TODAY WE WILL BE HOME!!!

Day 33 - VISA IN HAND!!!

Back to the Embassy this afternoon to pick up Amber's visa. Unlike yesterday when we arrived there was no one else in the waiting room. It was 10 'till 2 in the afternoon, so I guess the morning is when people apply for the visas and in the afternoon is when they come pick them up. Our appointment was at 2pm, as were about 4 other couples, who began to straggle in as we sat there. Shortly a woman came to the front window and I handed her the sealed medical envelope and our passports. She looked at mine and returned it. She said to be seated and someone would call us in a few minutes. 

"Kalifornia Roll" - um ... NOT!

We began chatting with the other families as they came in 1 by 1 until there were about 5 total in the waiting room. One family from Alabama was adopting a 5 yr old who looked like a 3 yr old and over the course of the conversation I found out he had HIV but they didn't know that until they got here. Another family from the mid-west were adopting 2 girls 5 and 7, also with HIV and both very strong willed! :) A family from CA with 3 kids ages 1, 3, and 5 were adopting a very adorable 2 yr old special needs boy with a couple of missing fingers and a completely missing foot - he sat in his stroller but was very active and wanted out, though he didn't complain about it! :) Becky and her kids were there to so we got to chat some more and make plans to see each other later that afternoon.

Finally they called "Meci family to window 17 please." The man, the first American I had seen working at the Embassy, asked me to raise my right hand and swear that everything I provided in the documents along with the following interview was true and correct to the best of my knowledge. She spoke to Amber in Russian with a very thick American accent! The only question in the interview was what city and state I lived in and he asked me where that was and I told him on the Maryland boarder and he was satisfied! Very odd! :) 

True to Ukrainian style, there were 2 people behind him hoovering! I don't know what they wanted or what they were watching, but they were watching him and me and Amber like hawks! I will seriously be glad to be home and not have to keep looking over my shoulder for the KGB watching me at all time when I go into a store to purchase something!


The man told me that it will take 1 hour up to 1 day to get the VISA printed into the passport! SERIOUSLY???!!!! Are you kidding me? People by tickets home for the day after they get their 2nd Embassy appointment because visas are printed that same day! He said we are working at just under and hour right now! Um ... yeah, no kidding buddy! I freaked everyone out when I said 1 hour up to 1 day in the waiting room, but also said they told me that last time and it was 1 hour! Today shouldn't have been any different ... and it wasn't! :) 


Just under and hour and it was done. We waited with the other families talking about out lives, etc. and I wanted to stay until Becky was done so we could figure out what we would do together that afternoon. They were done about 30 mins after we were and we all left together! Happy to see us our drivers, both named Losha (Alex/Alexi) took us to the corner near my apartment and we had lunch with Becky and her children.

The rest of the afternoon they hung out at our place, the Russian speakers watching TV and the Americans (the kids aren't officially Americans until they touch down) chatting mostly about NHFC hosting stories and looked at the new list of host kids for Christmas. Between the families we know about 10 kids that are being re-hosted or are on the list that we hope get chosen. They departed just before dinner and Amber and I went to a cafe with a name that sounds like chocolate. As you can see we had sushi and chocolate fondu w/fruit!


The rest of the photos are on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2485031046576.141932.1276629484&type=3

Day 32 - Embassy

Today at the embassy went well. It went well after a rough start, but it went so I can't complain too much. For those interested in the details, read on. For those not, here is the short post about the day ... and if you just want the photos the rest are here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2485031046576.141932.1276629484&type=3

No issues at the medical visit either - clean bill of health. Interestingly she didn't even have the "conditions" they listed in her file at the SDA. No health problems noted in her record from the school. I was able to talk the dr out of the blood test for HIV or the chest xray for TB, which would have required a few more days to wait for the blood test results from the public hospital - um ... no thanks! Should get the visa tomorrow after 2pm. I met another family in the same stage of their adoption there today and we have appointments at the same time tomorrow. We met up with Kevin & Melaney Sems who are in Kiev and fly out tomorrow during their 10 day waiting period. We got together with them and Kyle for dinner at TGIF in Kiev. My burger was dry and overcooked, but I was happy to be in the company of my new friends!

Kevin & Melaney Sems, Kyle, Me & Amber @ TGIF

For interested parties ... the embassy and medical visit details ...


You're supposed to have an appointment at the Embassy when you go to apply for your visa for your adopted child. Your country facilitator makes this for you, usually via email. While our facilitator did do this, the Embassy had not contacted her back to confirm our appointment day/time. Columbus Day was on Monday, so the Embassy was closed (thank you Federal Holidays that are generally worthless in the first place). She had left several messages, which they had not returned. So, she told me to be ready by 8:30 in case we had an early appointment, but as long as we got there by 11am we would be fine, even if we didn't have an appointment.


She picked me up about 9:30 and said she still had not heard back and asked if I would leave a message and see if they would call ME back since they had been non-responsive to her requests. The phone rang once and a woman answered! I had her talk to Nastya. Seems they had not received her email and therefore we did not have an appointment,however she said we could still come. I thought - Oh great, I'm in for a LONG day of waiting!!

Outside the Embassy are two lines - one for citizen services and the other for non-citizens. The non-citizen line was huge like 50+ people. I don't know what either lines are actually for, however if your name is on the list at the guard gate, they will let you to the front of the line. Our name was hand written on the list, but if it hadn't been there were about 12 people in the cit services line.


No electronic allowed past the guard house, not even the ipod was allowed - seriously? I had my papers, passport, money, and a book to read during the wait, that was it!


Inside we were met by a non-American English speaker who asked if we were applying for an immigrant or non-immigrant visa. I told her adoption. We were ushered down a hallway, turned left and told to go to the end and make another left. Since I had been here with Dennis before I knew where to go and what to expect ... or so I thought!


With Dennis there had only been 1 other family in the waiting room. This time the room was FULL! A sign read max capacity 13 persons ... umm way past that here guys! Standing room only and several already standing. Most did not speak English or at least were not native speakers. I had no idea how to tell who was next or where I might be able to get in the queue. I asked a clearly American couple and they said they had been sitting 15 minutes and they had no clue either.


As we were standing there the woman behind the glass window motioned me to come forward and sternly told me I needed to take a seat. I informed her all the seats were taken and she rudely told me that I needed to sit in the hallway and when the waiting room was cleared out they would start with the ones in the hall. If I had an appointment I would have rejected that plan, but since I did not, I figured I would just have to wait.


In the hall I buried my nose in my book to distract myself, but Amber was bored so she kept trying to distract me from my book (anyone who has spent time with us in Ukraine will understand exactly what I mean by this). I was mostly able to ignore her constant tactics to play with my nose or string on my hoodie, etc. and continued to read.


About 15-20 minutes later I saw a woman and her young son come through the doorway and skipped down the hallway in glee! I don't know what language they spoke, it could have been English because they said nothing, just skipped and laughed! Tears began to well up in my eyes (as they are now as I write this), and Amber noticed. She hugged me saying "oh mama" of course had no idea why I was crying!

As I was trying to regain my composure down the hall walks an American woman with 3 teenagers (one Korean, 2 Ukrainian) and Amber jumps up to greet the kids. The woman introduces herself to me at Becky and then asks if I'm ok, saying "this doesn't look good!" I told her why I was in tears and we exchanged some info to figure out if we knew each other! Yes, why yes we do! We had met at the Dulles airport for summer hosting and in fact her 2 new kids are from the same region as Amber (different school)!!! Small small world, eh? I didn't even know they were in Ukraine and I had read their blog before I just hadn't put 2 and 2 together yet!


Becky went inside and was at the window for about 15 minutes when the other American couple came out. They told me that the woman at the window had been so rude to them, so they went around the corner to another window to see if someone else could help them. Sure enough, they were able to process their visa application right away, no waiting. They suggested that I do the same.


I checked the front window and it was crowded with about 3 people, so Amber and I snuck by her and went around the corner. The next window was empty, but at the 3rd window was the man who helped me process my visa for Dennis! Not that he remember me, but he was the only man I saw during my last visit to the Embassy so I remembered him. 

I asked if I could process my adoption visa here and he very politely told me with his Russian accent to go back to the first window and he would call someone for me. He was apparently unaware of the large amount of people in the waiting area (it is blocked from the view of the other 4 windows). I told him there was someone there and as I was about to explain how full the waiting room was the woman in the next window told him to send us to her (he was busy processing papers).


This woman was very polite and actually smiled at us several times while we stood at her window processing paperwork. Her Russian accent gave her away, but otherwise I would swear she was an American! She knew this was not my first adoption from Ukraine and even stated that my first adoption was for a boy, right? :) The process took about 15 minutes as I passed her a form and she would tell me where to sign or if Amber needed to sign. She chatted with Amber in Russian and both were smiling at each other.

She handed me a small slip of paper on which she had checked off what I needed to pay for. She told me what she was keeping, what she would return to me tomorrow (original birth certificate and court decree), and said to go pay and return the receipt when they called Amber back for her finger prints. We paid at the cashier's window down the hall and then visited with Becky and her kids while we waited to be called for finger prints.


The time went quickly and we were done in another 15 minutes! I was handed back Amber's passport and then told to go to the medical facility and come back tomorrow at 2pm! Off to the medical center - there is only one certified medical center in town that can be used for an exit visit for a visa.


The long hallway was lined with people, but a few seats were left. Looked like we would be in for a long wait! As I was wrong about the wait at the embassy, I was also wrong about the wait at the medical center. Apparently people were waiting for test results or something because we only waited for about 15 minutes. They took Amber back and came back out 10 mins later saying her vision was quite poor and she needed glasses! She was begging me, NO GLASSES! I told her no glasses here, but maybe in America - discussion for another time!


I went into the exam room with her when the primary doctor was ready for the exam. The exam was very cursory and the woman was sorta rough with Amber, but she seemed to be used to it. She wasn't even weighed or measured for height, which I know for a fact is one of the questions on the reports we need to send back to Ukraine - height/weight at time of adoption!

Excellent burger, despite the description (marbled meat)

The dr reviewed her entire medical file from the school and then told me in a thick accent and quite broken English that she saw no health problems in the file. I watched as she examined Amber's feet - no flat foot as the SDA marked her with having. I watched as she examined Amber's spine. Dennis has scoliosis, so I know that it looks like. Amber does not have scoliosis, the other "condition" the SDA has marked her with requiring her to be placed in the special needs orphanage! CRAZY!!!


She said there were not any blood test results in the file and she wanted to get a blood test for HIV. (Side note, the friends that have been with us in region had to get their daughter's HIV screening done in region before they could officially pick her up). She also didn't have any records about a TB screening and she also wanted to get a chest x-ray for pneumonia.

Black spaghetti - DO NOT GET THIS ONE!!!
Amber ordered spaghetti - the menu didn't say it was black!
She smelled it and refused to even try it - I wished I had not!
Apparently it is soaked in squid ink, thus the color & nasty taste!
It was served with salmon pieces and covered in a white cream sauce.

I told her she had been to the US twice and there was no chance she had HIV or TB. I asked if there was any history in the file about pneumonia and she asked Amber if she'd ever had it. She said no and the only thing she said she ever had was an ear infection but that was several years ago. She also asked her where she lived before the school and she said with her grandma. She asked if gma had any health issues and listed several things ... to which she replied no to everything.


Doctor said he would not require the testing because she didn't see any health problems in the file, but if she had any health problems she would have required it. Ok, fine! She told me that Amber is perfectly healthy! She also said that many children she sees here for adoption are mildly mentally handicapped, but that Amber is a very smart girl for sure! She told Amber to work hard and she will have a good life in America! :)

Notice Kyle and Amber acting like 5 yr olds!

Exit medical facility and back to the apartment. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV and resting. I connected with Kevin & Melaney and we met up with Kyle for dinner at TGIF!


It was a good day!