He is an Angel!

Wow, what a couple of days it has been. We took the train down overnight, which was real interesting, it was an experience that i really did enjoy, because it was neat, but sure didnt get uch sleep on it. very small area for 5 people. we went to the orphanage wednesday, first to the doctor, so she could tell us his medical issues. its hard to sit there and know that she could tell you ANYTHING and you just have to take it in. there is nothing she could have said that would change anything in our minds, but it was nerve wracking. we knew alot of it, but some we didnt. poor little thing has alot of things to deal with. So, then they took us to his room. they opened the door and i saw him sitting at a little table playing with a car. He is TINY. i know everyone is surprised at how small they are, but he is 5 1/2 and smaller than my 2 1/2 yr old. He came to me and i sat down on the floor with him. it was a bit difficult because all the nannies and yulia were watching. i got out my toy bag and he played with the toys. we only had about 15 minutes because yulia had to bring papers to another place still that day. our cabbie didnt like us at all and was very rude. you get that here. the next day we met serge and marina there at the orphanage, artiom came to me when we go to his roo to get him, the nannies dont really like us to come in the room,and we have to take him to the music room to play. its chilly in there and not much to do, but we sure enjoy playing with him. we get 2 hours once a day.

i had alot of emotion the day we me.et him. in my mind the build up was so huge, i had imagined it a million times. yet, it wasnt really like i imagined. here was this tiny helpless child, with no one to love him. i immediately knew i would always take care of him and that kind of thing, but its hard to explain...you want to feel immediate love, immediate connection. you dont want to feel like you are hugging someone elses child. but you sort of do. then the rest of the visit the next day that is, i would observe his behaviors, which seem autistic but of course could just be orphanage behaviors. then i start to think about all the dr appt that lay ahead and what his potential may be...i will keep this very real..it was a little hard. you start to question things, things you know your heart isnt really questioning, but your earthly mind is anyway. if that makes sense.

that night we got a call from marina saying there was a paperwork issue and we might not be able to adopt him if they cant find a certain document. all my earthly doubts about whether God brought him to my life went out the window. i was so scared that he may end up in an institution and it was unimaginable. i knew he was supposed to be our little boy. thankfully, they called back later that night and said that they DID find the document. he has 4 brothers and sisters and it was an issue with that. i think his mother is not living.

we had a good visit today, he is very very happy and smiling all the time. so innocent. he is totally non verbal, and may stay that way. he has the sweetest smile in the world. we leave one teen at our apartment with alex because he was a monster the day we brought him. we have an apartment w/in walking distance to some shops and there are stalls selling food and things everywhere here. the ride to the orphanage is about 30 minutes each way. taxi drivers are crazy, they dont plow the roads here and we got alot of snow, so its a mess. big dogs run everywhere digging in the garbage. the women dress very risque for lack of a better word. signs of store windows are pretty bad too. you become more aware of it when you have your teens with i guess.

we have not heard a thing about the interpol, which is not so good. we cant get a court date until we clear the interpol.

i had borsht with yulia. i love it. really. Actually i love alot of things here, i could seriously live here. its been such an amazing experience all around. we play crazy eight and night and walk to the market for milk and bread and smoked string cheese, yum! the orphanage staff dont seem to like us a real lot though so its a little awkward. we have to wear masks too but you can buy them here if you forget them.

I asked serge about the pics of the kids on my list and he said he would take care of it for me, i have no doubt the staff would not let me, but they will probably let him or marina. keep your fingers crossed. i didn't see any of our RR kids in artioms groupa, they were all young, like 1-4 yrs old. they keep artiom in the younger group because he is so small and sensitive and gets along well with all of them.

i am going to have shane put some pics on here hopefully. I have to check out RR while i have internet to see what kiddos are committed to this week, and if mindy got a family in time. all of you coming here have such an amazing experience to look forward to. adoption is the most wonderful thing in the world!

jodi

p.s. nancy, I dont have the phone with me, rich has it back at the apartment. i still h ave to get the # for you :)

last thought for the day..

for all of you coming or thinking about adopting from here: this is an AWESOME experience. An experience of a life time for me, i certainly never thought i would be in Ukraine. The cultural differences are facinating, the food is very interesting, the sights are beautiful... the whole experience has been something i will always remember, and we havent even met our son yet!! I know in adoption there are unexpected things that can come up, and you have to be prepared for that. But it's ALL a leap of faith...that's what faith is :) But i believe when you do something intrinsically good, like adoption, no matter what, good will come of it, because it is done out of love. All is good :)
jodi

heading to region tonight...

hello all, its going good here. still freezing though. we will take a train part way down to hunters region tonight .and then drive the rest. i got some birth mother information at the appt yesterday. but just her name and age, no birth father information. he was born in a small town not far from the orphanage. i am excited to hear any more info when we get there. still dont know about the interpol clearance, but all you can do is hope for the best at this point. so i'm thinking tomorrow we may finally meet him :)

jodi

one more thing

with the new Interpol thing, we may have to stay 2-3 more weeks :( But we will see. we head down to region tomorrow.

Here in Kiev, SDA appt. and new pic of Hunter

Wow, it's all alittle overwhelming. Our appt went well, i think. Serge was our translator, and we had to explain why we wanted to adopt a special needs child and so on... like him. Serge and the lady were talking about him with the pic, and I caught another glimpse of it and noticed 2 ears! wait a minute! Hun.ter only had one ear. So they had the wrong child.:) no wonder i didn;t recognize him! battery is dying on commputer....

The time has come at last...

We leave in the morning, we have some lay-over's, so we'll get to Kiev Sunday afternoon. We will have Monday to get adjusted, and then our SDA appt. in Tuesday. So hopefully, by Wednesday or Thursday we'll finally be meeting this sweet boy, our new son. I can't believe it's really happening, it seem's like just yesterday I was pleading with my husband to adopt him, and now here it is! So all you out there who are in the same situation, trying to talk your husbands into it, stay persistant, keep the faith, and wait on the Lord to change their hearts :)

Jodi

She has 10 days left...

Mindy turns 4 in 10 days...normally birthdays are a happy ocasion, but not if you are an orphan in Easten Europe. She will be sent to a mental institution on her 4th birthday. One that she can NOT be adopted out of. Ever. She will be scared and miserable, and she will most likely die within the first year there. Please search your hearts, please pray. She can't just disappear forever.

WOW, it's close now...I getting nervous

I think I was better prepared a month ago than I am now! I unpacked to repack and decide what didn't really need to come and if the pants still fit me :) and all that, now it's chaos. I am trying to fit Hunter's and Alex's in the same suitcase, so we don't have to pay $50 for Hunter's suitcase on the way over. Rich and I are sharing one too. I told the teens they have to pack light, but you know a 16 yr old girl....
Michael has been acting really out of character lately, crying ALOT, and being extra naughty. It must be because we're leaving soon. As I have said, he and I are pretty close. Summer is just bouncing off the walls with excitement over Artiom coming home. (Artiom is Hunter)

Lindsey got a perscription for valium for anxiety for flying.. I haven't filled it yet...what do you think of that? I don't know much about it.

What a friend...

The donation to our family fund came from a friend of mine who is herself in the middle of an international adoption. What a kind hearted person to give when they themselves have the expense of their own adoption. It does the heart good to get a glimmer of the goodness that is out there in a world where we tend to see so much negativity.

Thank You.

a BIG thank you...

I was shocked when I saw someone had donated $100.00 into our family fund!!!!!! It has always been zero, and since our friends at RR are all adopting, I didn't really expect it to move from zero :)
I don't know who gave it, but I sincerely THANK YOU!

Jodi

we leave in 6 days!

ok, I'm getting a bit stressed out. On one hand, I am SO happy to know I wil meet him soon. That part is rather sureal to me. Really. I have been thinking about it for so long it has sort of taken on a life of its own. That may make sense to those of you who have waited and waited to meet your child, and imagined it in so many different ways :) I'm nervous.

Now we have a couple of extra documents we just found out that we need to bring with us, so i sure hope there won't be any trouble with getting those at the very last minute!

I don't like to fly. We already covered that one, so I'll leave it at that. My husband always corrects me and says "you don't mind flying, you just don't like to crash", yeah, he is always such a help! He spent all that time in graduate school to tell me that.

Please pray for Michael and Summer to stay safe and healthy when I am away. This one is a big concern for me.

I sure hope we can find out about his birth family and the circumstances that brought him to the orphanage. I would love to have contact with them, so they can follow Artiom's life. I hope they loved him.

packing, packing and planning :)

Getting all set to go. Lots of packing, as I think the kids will be coming with us, well not all of them, but 3 of them. I WISH they were all coming. It's probably going to be the hardest thing I have ever done leaving Michael and Summer. I have NEVER been away from them. EVER. I can't even fathom being away for such a long period of time, I feel sick thinking about it. But, I guess you do what you have to do, right?
9 days to go....

To bring them or not to bring them...

We are really on the fence about bringing the kids with us. It will cost so much more if we do, and that's a really big issue for us. Yet, they have been planning on coming (the 2 teens) and are really looking forward to it. I can't even imagine leaving little Alex at home all that time. He is almost 3, but not quite 'typical'. He doesn't speak in intelligible words, but I'm like his 'de-coder' and I understand ALL of his ways and needs.
Yet, our facilitator recommends we leave him home. I just don't know. Yes, we have the tickets, but for the most part they are refundable. I just cannot believe the cost of adoption! There are so many beautiful children I would LOVE to go and rescue from a terrible life, but how? I really have to work on the faith thing, never have been very good at that :)

13 days...

15 more days!

We leave in 18 days!

Remember this movie? Overboard

You know how when the house was such a mess, she took out a garden hose and started spraying...well after being sick for over a week around here, I'm going out looking for my hose!

this is how I have felt the last few days..SICK SICK SICK

BLAH