Diddles in Ukraine

[] Diddles in Ukraine Thursday | October 12, 2006 October 11th October 11 th, Wednesday. Every day there are little battles. Some you win and some you lose. We took a van into downtown Sumy today to the center market place. There we took a flashcard with 38 digital photos in to be printed. The photos are photos we have received from hosted families or photos we have taken during our visit to the orphanage to include pictures of teachers and students in competition. The price to print digital photos was .90 grinya’s per picture or about 19 cents (US) a photo. The photos took 1 hour to print. The price is comparative to the states. We arrived at the boarding school around 1400L and distributed the photos. There was a concert today at 1500L. It was great seeing all the children perform. Several of them performed in their traditional clothes. Performances involved dancing and singing. Zhenya did well. The winners of the day I believe was Dasha, Tolia and Stan. The final statement from the judges was that all the children were worthy to compete in the region and the country of Ukraine. They were all winners. The concert was put together by the same couple that performs religious services during the week for the children. The family is sponsored by a missionary effort. The couple provided a nice electrical piano, microphones, speakers and such. I am grateful to whatever organization that is sponsoring them to provide the children with hope and happiness. There were a lot of happy faces and laughter going on during the entertainment. During the competition, Natalie was able to assist a couple of hosting families to talk to their children. A couple of French families have returned to take their children home. It appears a lot of Frenchmen come to the school. A lot of the children speak some French, such as Ruslan and Zhenya. One couple is adopting a girl and another family is adopting 3 children. They live only two hours away by flight. The third family did not come to contest Ruslan’s adoption. Through their translator, they advised us that the family that hosted Ruslan was in tears and very distressed and devastated. She said we have caused a lot of pain. They tried to play a guilt trip on us. It worked and had Nadine in tears. However, we will continue on with the adoption. We will love Ruslan as much as any of our children. If we cancel the adoption of Ruslan, we will lose Zhenya. It would be very painful to lose Zhenya. The SDA did not know that a hosted family wanted Ruslan and neither did the boarding school. Ruslan did not know the intent of the French family. If we had known along they way that a family was planning on adopting Ruslan, we may have made a different decision. But I still stand by, the fact that after prayer and consideration, the thought that came to me was, It matters not if you adoption 1 or a 100. What matters is how you raise them. I will raise them with Love and provide the best I can. It is good to see that there are several good families in the world striving to help the children if they are able. Others help by supporting those that are. I think if the hosted family had communicated their desires to Ruslan, and maybe sent a letter to the boarding school; the distress of this lady would have been naught. The lesson I see here, is that hosted families need to strive to stay in the mind of the children, with it is with letters or phone calls or some other means of connection. I feel that our trip has been positive in providing hope to the other children that has been hosted by our group. At 1700L, we prepared to leave the school with the boys. We even had the boys not go to their supper meal, because they were eating with us. However, the director was out. The vice director mentioned that she could go to jail if she let us take the children home. The law is that the school is still responsible for the children According to her, until the courts give us the documents on the 20th, the children must remain at the orphanage. A battle lost. We took the kids to a small store, bought them a sandwich, ice cream and a soda. (The kids almost won!). We left the boarding school at 1745L When we arrived at the apartment, we picked up the gift to give to Valentina and meet with Lidya to go see Valentina who is at a technical boarding school. The school holds 160 students (80 boys and 80 girls) starting at age 14-15. The children are in the technical school for 3-4 years as they learn a marketable skill. Some of the skills taught are computer operations, remodeling, painting, and administrative services. Valentina was out at an activity and did not arrive at the school until 2000. We meet with her and presented her the gift. It was a tearful reunion. She expressed how much she love the family that hosted her. She and her brothers have a tight bond. We left at 2130. Back to the apartment for a quick dinner of Bulgarian omelets and off to sleepy land. We do miss our children at home. We miss not having the boys in this empty apartment. Tomorrow should be "Hump" day. We hope for a more cheerful day. We have enquired about Elizabeth’s niece, but have not gotten any information. We are told they are researching the information for us. Posted by at 10:30 in | Link | Comments (0) Wednesday | October 11, 2006 Oct 10th, Tuesday Oct 10 th 2006 - Tuesday - Day 17 Another busy day loaded with activities have come and gone. The boys got up at 0700L, just as they were scheduled to do at the boarding school. I had been in the kitchen reading, and they came in fully dressed and gave me a big hug. They then took me by the hand into the living room. They had folded the blankets and put away the hide-a-bed. We returned to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I asked the boys if they wanted eggs for breakfast. They said NYET and at the same time wrinkling their noses. Since eggs were what I had in the house, I started to scramble the eggs. The boys saw what I was making, and they wanted to help. Then they ate the scrambled eggs and told me it Clasinex, meaning "Cool", I also had peanut butter, bread, bananas and mandarin oranges laid out for breakfast. They boys asked for a sack. They then proceeded to put the bananas, oranges and bread into the bag and told me they wanted to take the food for their school lunch. They did not want to eat the lunch (I do not blame them). We left the apartment at 0930. We needed to exchange additional funds. Nadine did the exchanging. The exchange rate was 5.03 grinya’s to $1 US. The rate has fluctuated between 5.02 and 5.04. We took a taxi for 7 Grinya to the high-speed internet site. I was able to accomplish in 6 minutes what I tried to do in 30 minutes at the other place. I also was able to download Bogdan’s photo’s onto my flash card and will look for a place to print them tomorrow. Bogdan is aware of photo’s coming his way. We arrived by taxi at the appointed time to meet with the director. We went with the director to the market to find carpet runners for the children’s bedrooms. As we entered the market place, it was very crowded. There must have been a couple hundred vendors selling anything you need (and some things you don’t need). Each booth must have been around 4 feet wide and maybe 6 feet deep. I also felt I was in trouble as I looked at the rows of clothes! We turned left between two vendor booths and came upon a carpet vendor. We had budgeted $150US to donate to the school. The school has 200+ children. We ended up only able to purchase 60 rugs for 1008 Grinyas ($200US). The next adoptive parent that comes in will have to work on the rest of the order. Oh the happiness we could bring if we were independently wealthy! We were blessed with wealth, but not financially. The weather has turned bitterly cold. Even with the sun out, the wind takes away any warmth. While at the market we purchased a nice warm coat for Nadine for 330 Grinya’s. ($65US) This coat should keep her warm when she returns for the Utah winter as well as the fall here in Ukraine. (I would hate to be sent to Siberia for the winter). When we returned to the school, the grandmother (Tanya) to Ruslan was there. The psychologist asked if we would grant the grandmother’s desire to meet with her. At first there was a little hesitation, but after the initial uncomfortable greeting we were able to overcome the awkward situation and discuss Ruslan’s future. According to the grandmother, Ruslan is all she lives for. She stated "He is all I have and I can not live without him" We discussed with her that she will always be a grandmother for him and that we would not stop any communication. Additionally, we told her, when Ruslan was ready to marry in 20 years, we would do what we could for her to attend the wedding. We talked for a good 45 minutes, letting her know that we want to help Ruslan. She agrees it is for the best, because she can not provide for him and did not provide for him in the past. She realizes the blame for the lost of her only grandson was the fault of her action and that of the person she once called daughter. She has no electricity, no fuel, food or clean environment to raise him. She ask that we allow him to write and to send her photos. We told her that families are important and we would like to keep her informed on the progress of her grandson. In asking about her past, the grandmother lived in Sumy for over 30 years. She is almost 50 years old now. She makes a living as a salesperson. She has 5 years before she retires. Her father was a machinist and her mother was also a salesperson. It is sad to see how alcohol destroyed this family. The courts advised us that Ruslan’s family had no rights to him. He is a healthy child, and if we had not taken him, the family in France was going to adopt him. Ruslan’s group teacher invited us to come in from the bitter cold and listen to the children rehearse. We went up to the 2nd floor of the dormitory to the group common area. The teacher played an accordion and the children sang several folk songs. The children sang loud. It is amazing, that in such a grey country where the children have so little, the children were happy with the simple things they had. They were happy to be together, all 17 of them (9 boys and 8 girls) to be together as a happy family. The boarding school provides them food, warmth and safety. The group teacher strives to provide them love. The school and group leaders love the children, but nothing replaces family’s true love. Teri called today to talk to their children. Come to find out that Vitalie had complained of a temperature and head ache and was taking to the hospital Sunday night. The children, when they go to the hospital, seem to disappear for about a week. We have not seen Vern’s Andrew for quite sometime. He has gone in from what we understand, routine check-ups. It is good to see the school concerned about the health of the children. I am torn in leaving the boys at the boarding school tonight. I can almost see them lying awake in their bedroom. Zhenya is lucky. Zhenya’s room, is almost the size of a walk in bedroom closet. He shares it with one other child, Yuri. Yuri also has a sister in the boarding school. The boys have a concert tomorrow night and they have rehearsal in the morning. The performance starts at 1500L. (Zhenya asked if we could be there at 1030L) Nadine and I have been asked to judge the performance. It was decided it would be best for the boys to stay at the school so they will be there early for the rehearsal. On the way home, we stopped at the Main Telephone Company and Nadine called home with the news of yesterday’s courts to her sister Casandra. We arrived too late to talk to our daughters who had left already for school. We went to the market and purchased fresh bread and produce. For dinner tonight, we had the home made cabbage dumplings which we made a few nights ago with our left over cabbage. Some day you will have to ask Nadine about our Cat Food. At the bottom of our apartment are a couple of benches. During the day, there are several elderly ladies that sit on the benches. We were told not to mind what they do or say, they are known as gossiping grannies with nothing good to do our say. When ever we depart or prepare to enter the apartment their "talking" level greatly increases. We received a call tonight from Nadine’s Sister, Lanette. Oct 10 th 2006 - Tuesday - Day 17 Another busy day loaded with activities have come and gone. The boys got up at 0700L, just as they were scheduled to do at the boarding school. I had been in the kitchen reading, and they came in fully dressed and gave me a big hug. They then took me by the hand into the living room. They had folded the blankets and put away the hide-a-bed. We returned to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I asked the boys if they wanted eggs for breakfast. They said NYET and at the same time wrinkling their noses. Since eggs were what I had in the house, I started to scramble the eggs. The boys saw what I was making, and they wanted to help. Then they ate the scrambled eggs and told me it Clasinex, meaning "Cool", I also had peanut butter, bread, bananas and mandarin oranges laid out for breakfast. They boys asked for a sack. They then proceeded to put the bananas, oranges and bread into the bag and told me they wanted to take the food for their school lunch. They did not want to eat the lunch (I do not blame them). We left the apartment at 0930. We needed to exchange additional funds. Nadine did the exchanging. The exchange rate was 5.03 grinya’s to $1 US. The rate has fluctuated between 5.02 and 5.04. We took a taxi for 7 Grinya to the high-speed internet site. I was able to accomplish in 6 minutes what I tried to do in 30 minutes at the other place. I also was able to download Bogdan’s photo’s onto my flash card and will look for a place to print them tomorrow. Bogdan is aware of photo’s coming his way. We arrived by taxi at the appointed time to meet with the director. We went with the director to the market to find carpet runners for the children’s bedrooms. As we entered the market place, it was very crowded. There must have been a couple hundred vendors selling anything you need (and some things you don’t need). Each booth must have been around 4 feet wide and maybe 6 feet deep. I also felt I was in trouble as I looked at the rows of clothes! We turned left between two vendor booths and came upon a carpet vendor. We had budgeted $150US to donate to the school. The school has 200+ children. We ended up only able to purchase 60 rugs for 1008 Grinyas ($200US). The next adoptive parent that comes in will have to work on the rest of the order. Oh the happiness we could bring if we were independently wealthy! We were blessed with wealth, but not financially. The weather has turned bitterly cold. Even with the sun out, the wind takes away any warmth. While at the market we purchased a nice warm coat for Nadine for 330 Grinya’s. ($65US) This coat should keep her warm when she returns for the Utah winter as well as the fall here in Ukraine. (I would hate to be sent to Siberia for the winter). When we returned to the school, the grandmother (Tanya) to Ruslan was there. The psychologist asked if we would grant the grandmother’s desire to meet with her. At first there was a little hesitation, but after the initial uncomfortable greeting we were able to overcome the awkward situation and discuss Ruslan’s future. According to the grandmother, Ruslan is all she lives for. She stated "He is all I have and I can not live without him" We discussed with her that she will always be a grandmother for him and that we would not stop any communication. Additionally, we told her, when Ruslan was ready to marry in 20 years, we would do what we could for her to attend the wedding. We talked for a good 45 minutes, letting her know that we want to help Ruslan. She agrees it is for the best, because she can not provide for him and did not provide for him in the past. She realizes the blame for the lost of her only grandson was the fault of her action and that of the person she once called daughter. She has no electricity, no fuel, food or clean environment to raise him. She ask that we allow him to write and to send her photos. We told her that families are important and we would like to keep her informed on the progress of her grandson. In asking about her past, the grandmother lived in Sumy for over 30 years. She is almost 50 years old now. She makes a living as a salesperson. She has 5 years before she retires. Her father was a machinist and her mother was also a salesperson. It is sad to see how alcohol destroyed this family. The courts advised us that Ruslan’s family had no rights to him. He is a healthy child, and if we had not taken him, the family in France was going to adopt him. Ruslan’s group teacher invited us to come in from the bitter cold and listen to the children rehearse. We went up to the 2nd floor of the dormitory to the group common area. The teacher played an accordion and the children sang several folk songs. The children sang loud. It is amazing, that in such a grey country where the children have so little, the children were happy with the simple things they had. They were happy to be together, all 17 of them (9 boys and 8 girls) to be together as a happy family. The boarding school provides them food, warmth and safety. The group teacher strives to provide them love. The school and group leaders love the children, but nothing replaces family’s true love. Teri called today to talk to their children. Come to find out that Vitalie had complained of a temperature and head ache and was taking to the hospital Sunday night. The children, when they go to the hospital, seem to disappear for about a week. We have not seen Vern’s Andrew for quite sometime. He has gone in from what we understand, routine check-ups. It is good to see the school concerned about the health of the children. I am torn in leaving the boys at the boarding school tonight. I can almost see them lying awake in their bedroom. Zhenya is lucky. Zhenya’s room, is almost the size of a walk in bedroom closet. He shares it with one other child, Yuri. Yuri also has a sister in the boarding school. The boys have a concert tomorrow night and they have rehearsal in the morning. The performance starts at 1500L. (Zhenya asked if we could be there at 1030L) Nadine and I have been asked to judge the performance. It was decided it would be best for the boys to stay at the school so they will be there early for the rehearsal. On the way home, we stopped at the Main Telephone Company and Nadine called home with the news of yesterday’s courts to her sister Casandra. We arrived too late to talk to our daughters who had left already for school. We went to the market and purchased fresh bread and produce. For dinner tonight, we had the home made cabbage dumplings which we made a few nights ago with our left over cabbage. Some day you will have to ask Nadine about our Cat Food. At the bottom of our apartment are a couple of benches. During the day, there are several elderly ladies that sit on the benches. We were told not to mind what they do or say, they are known as gossiping grannies with nothing good to do our say. When ever we depart or prepare to enter the apartment their "talking" level greatly increases. We received a call tonight from Nadine’s Sister, Lanette. We received an email that a favorite uncle of Dan's passed away in Ohio on Friday. Posted by at 13:11 in | Link | Comments (1) Tuesday | October 10, 2006 Oct 9th - Court Day 9 Oct 2006 – Monday – Court Date. We received a called today from Vladimir at 0945L. He said that we have a court time scheduled for 1300L. Vladimir will pick up the children and Lydia and meet us at the courthouse. We attempted to post to the internet this morning, but after 30 minutes trying to open up email, I gave up. We left the apartment at 1215. We got a taxi for under $2US. The courthouse was about 3 blocks to the south of McDonalds. We arrived at 1230. The wether was cold and the skies were gray. We waited until 1306 to enter the courtroom. The courtroom was approximately 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide. In front of us was a table with 4 chairs. Two of the chairs were occupied by a man and a woman sitting . The west end of the table was up against a 4 foot wooden desk. There a lady dressed is dark conservative clothes was reviewing our court requests for adoption. We were directed to sit in the chairs that lined the eastern wall. Also present in the room was Vladimir, Lydia (The psychologist form the boarding school), and the director of the local education office. As best as I remember, we were asked to stand. The court was called to order and Natalie presented her authority and documents to translate. Then I was told my court options were to accept the court decision, or adjourn for another day. We of course choose to accept the court decision. I was then directed to stand back up. Introduce my self. Indicate my occupation, state that I would be financially able to support the children. I told them I owned my house. It was a separate dwelling. The boys would be sharing a bedroom. I would provide for their needs, and no, I was not receiving any financial benefit from anyone to adopt these children. I was also asked if we had bonded with the children and if I was healthy to assume the responsibility as parent. I stated that this past week, I had played several soccer games and survived and I felt healthy enough to be their father. Additionally we had faithfully written a letter every week to Zhenya and called him on his birthday. The court also asked if I had been told the medical history of the children. I stated as far as the SDA has told me. Then Nadine was introduced to the court. The court explained that the Mother will be raising the children. The judge asked if she intends to work out of the home. Her answer was “If needs be, I have skills, but the primary responsibility was raising the children.” Then Lydia presented the history of the children. Zhenya in 2000 was left in the care of his grandmother. The grandmother left him alone in a house. She was arrested and he was taken into state custody. He had never received a visit. Additionally, when the grandmother did get out of jail, she never visited Zhenya. Zhenya’s biological parents are recorded as missing. Ruslan’s case was that in 2005 he was removed from his alcoholic mother that had neglected and abused him. The parent occasionally visited at the orphanage, but was under the influence of alcohol. There is no record of his father. The mother made no attempt to get Ruslan back. The boys were asked who their parents were, and they stated that we were. Zhenya and Ruslan were asked if they wanted to be adopted. The answer was yes. We were asked if we wanted to change their names, we said yes, but we kept their first names as their middle names so they can remember their wonderful Ukrainian heritage. We then were asked if there were any further comments. I spoke that I apologize for not knowing their language; however, we love the boys, and request the court to find favor in us and to grant us our desire to be the parents of these two boys. We were then dismissed. We waited in the lobby for maybe 5 minutes. We were called back in. The court read the decision. The decision was positive, that we will be their parents. We have 10 days to change our mind, or to have someone contest the court’s decision. In less then an hour, by 1350 we were departing the court house. The plan…It is only a plan, because we have seen delays already, is to return on the Friday the 20 th to pick up the paperwork showing the positive decision. Then we will work on getting Ruslan’s paperwork (birth certificate) changed here in Sumy. Then on Sunday, the 22 nd we shall travel to Donestk to get Zhenya’s paperwork changed on Monday the 23 rd . Then travel back to Sumy on the Tuesday the 24 th . Prepare travel documents on Wednesday 25 th , and then go to Kiev on Thursday the 26 th to work with travel documents at the US Embassy and to get the children’s medical check up accomplished. This should take place on Friday, the 27 th and Monday the 30 th . Then we hope to fly out on the 30th at 1230L. It will be close. After court, we went to celebrate at a café across from the court house. The restaurant had a non-smoking children section. The room was cold. The boys had crab salad, french fries and a cutlet. Nadine and I had French Fries. She ordered Broccoli covered with cheese sauce, but it ended up being Brussels sprouts which she will not eat! The bill was 195 Grinya’s. We then returned to the boarding school. Roman and Bogdan saw Zhenya and asked the results. They were excited. We received permission for the boys to spend the night at our apartment. While at the school, we talked with the director. They wish to use our donation to the school in support of purchasing carpet runners for the children’s’ rooms. We scheduled tomorrow at 1030 to accomplish this task. Additionally, Zhenya’s group leader has asked for a vacuum cleaner. We shall see what we can find with our limited budget. Due to the late hour we returned, we did not get to the internet Café to post. Hopefully we can do this in the morning. The boys were excited. I finally got them calmed down as I told them the story of Goldilocks and the three bears in English. I must have bored them, because shortly after, they went to sleep. Posted by at 10:50 in | Link | Comments (0) 8 October October 8 th , Sunday . This is our 3 rd Sunday here (16 days). Our daily average spending has been $45 a day. This amount does not include lodging. When we were in Kiev, the nightly rate was $65 (US) and here in Kiev, the apartment is running $48 (US) a night. We are paying 35 of the 48 and Natalie is paying the balance. The daily spending will go up I am sure, once we start buying clothes for the children. We continue to hope and pray for our initial court date tomorrow. Vladimir is departing Kiev tomorrow at 0500L and will go directly to the courthouse to request a session with the judge. I am grateful that I am able to have as much vacation time as I have and I really appreciate my employer for allowing me to be gone for so long. DAILY ACTIVITIY Today was a long day. We got the boys up at 0630L this morning. Nadine and I were up an hour prior to that. offered the boys what we had for breakfast, which consisted of eggs, fruit, dry cereal, juice, or toast. They wanted and their request was granted; Ramen Noodles. Logic told me, it was grain, it was hot, filling and if they would eat it, I was a step closer to success. There are moments that happiness equates to a full stomach! At 0715L this morning, we (Natalie, Zhenya, Ruslan, Nadine and I) left the apartment. Upon exiting the apartment, we realized the weather had cooled down. We could see our breath. We caught a van enroute to a baptism. We meet at the last stop on the #15 Van Line (South of our apartment about 10 minutes) We arrived and waited for about 30 minutes for people to show up. It was colder than anticipated. Ruslan gladly accepted my jacket. We hiked along a dirt road for about 5 minutes. We ended up on the banks of a wide river. The 16 year old boy desiring to be baptized went down to the river and cleared away the moss and validated that the water was cold! Then he returned to change into white baptismal clothes. The dressing room turned out to be two sheets held up by the other missionaries! Any sacrifice when they are in the service of their God and fellow human kind. The baptismal meeting was started with a prayer and a song, and a talk on baptism. I did not understand any of the language, but felt the peacefulness of the morning. As the missionary and the young man descended to the river edge, I noticed how quiet and peaceful the surrounding was. The sun was welcomed as it slowly came up and shared it’s warmth. As you looked at the river, you could see there was a current, but there were no rapids. Across the river there was a rowboat with an individual fishing. The other bank was lined with trees that have been adorned with the autumn colors of red, orange and gold. The baptismal service was great. The two young men entered the water. After the prayer, the boy was immersed in the water. He quickly came out of the water, indicating the water was still cold, no matter what language he spoke. The young men returned to their changing “room” behind the sheets and the local church members sang hymns. A talk on the Holy Ghost and a closing prayer was offered. We walked back to the bus stop and went back to the apartment to warm up and to have breakfast. We then got a taxi for only 7 grinya’s to the chapel. We got there at 1001, just as the meeting was starting. There was no-one ready to give a talk, so it turned into a testimonial meeting. Ruslan and Zhenya received a primary lesson on the creation of the world from Elder Jenkins. After an hour the boys quickly lost interest. I took Zhenya and Ruslan and together we walked back to the apartment. The boys enjoy eating sunflower seeds. When Nadine and Natalie returned, the boys unanimously asked for Spaghetti. I cooked a big pan of spaghetti, planning on leftovers. Zhenya had a second full plate of spaghetti which ended the thought of having leftovers. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching a TV movie called “A problem child” with John Ritter. The children layed around the living room just basking in the being away from the boarding school Between yesterday and today the boys managed to eat a whole watermelon! Sadly we returned to the orphanage at 1600L and returned the responsibility of the children back to the boarding school. Several children came up to be with us and receive hugs. Although I am not an affectionate touchy type person, it is amazing the smiles given by the children as they are held and hugged, of all ages, I know we must leave someday to continue life’s journey, but a piece of our heart will be here. We had Bulgarian omelets for dinner tonight. We fried up onions and tomatoes. After the onions were browned, we smothered everything with eggs. It was very tasty. Posted by at 10:49 in | Link | Comments (0) Sunday | October 08, 2006 Oct 7th - Saturday Oct 7 th , Saturday We departed from the apartment at 1000L to go pick up the boys for a day at the local “Children’s Park”. Upon arriving at the boarding school we discovered that the school needed Zhenya in a multi-school Physical Training Competition. We then obtain permission to take Ruslan to the park. There we treated him to a ride in a waterboat, a ride on a motorcar, and Nadine went with him on a rickety roller coaster and a tilt-a-wheel. He even got a huge stick of cotton candy. We departed in hopes to catch a bus back to the apartment. However, the buses were loaded and did not stop. We continued walking until we returned to the apartment. It was a good hike, and everyone did well. Due to the mass amount of walking, the clothes are getting bigger! We returned to the boarding school at 1500. While walking down the road, the director of the school was returning from his garden patch. Most people here have little plots of land where they grow their own flowers or vegetables. The Director asked us how we are doing. We told them okay, and then we asked for permission for the boys to spend the night. Verbal permission was granted. However, he would not put it in writing. About 2 years ago, a parent in the process of adopting a child, took the child away from the school and the child drowned. Since then the rule is Children spend the night with who ever is responsible for the children . Since we have not had the court, the school is still liable for the children. The boys were excited to come stay at the apartment. Nadine went down and bought them each a pair of pajamas, socks, and underwear. The boys took long soaking hot baths and had a big meal of borscht. We ended the night eating watermelon. (It was okay, nothing can beat the green valley water melon from Moab area!) The girls from home were able to call us this evening. They appeared to be excited to call the boys. The boys were excited to talk to them. They also were excited to talk to Colton. The missionaries called and there will be a baptism tomorrow. Nadine desires to give the children this experience. We will take them there to participate. The problem is we need to be at the bus stop at 0715 tomorrow. Good Night. I have started a second album for Sumy Posted by at 19:30 in | Link | Comments (0) Saturday | October 07, 2006 Oct 6th Oct 6 th Friday. We have been here two weeks! (Who's counting). A gentle rain fell through the night. I had a restless sleep last night as a dreamt that the judge stated that there was not enough evidence to support us adopting the children and that our documents at the SDA had expired! Now we see that the stress of adoption is heavy in our subconscious mind as well. Breakfast consisted of left over potato cakes. Wasting food is not an option. The potato cake for breakfast was alright but I would love to have a bowl of mini wheat and a tall glass of milk! As we waited for news from Vladimir, we checked the internet near our apartment (the game center) and posted yesterday's activities. The children at home are starting to feel the stress of our absence. Hopefully we can call them today (Friday) or Saturday. We purchased the daily groceries (eggs, water, juice, potatoes, carrots, oranges, spaghetti noodles) and returned to the apartment, waiting news from Vladimir. Today if we were playing softball, I would have been out a long time ago. We had several disappointing strikes today. Strike 1 . When we returned to the apartment, the elevator was broken. Being on the 7 th floor, we had a good hike. The bright side…we could have been in the elevator when it broke and the exercise is always good.. Strike 2. Vladimir called at 1200L. He has not received the paperwork yet. There is no way he can make court today. There is no guarantee that the paperwork will be signed today. Legally, they have 5 days to process the paperwork before we can even inquire. The paperwork was submitted last Friday. Last time, we were able to get the court date with 5 days notice. Now, we wait until Vladimir has the paperwork and returns. Frustration level is high. Not having any control or understanding of why the delay. Vladimir and Natalie are trying, but it is out of their hands as well. The only explanation appears to be, “new people doing the job”. We are not the first. Two French families came through last week, and their paperwork was processed. The Americans that had appointments on the 25 th of September, they too have had their courts. I know I must be patient. We now will go to the school and must let the boys know that due to “inexperience” they will not have a court date this week. Strike 3 . The boys' plan to spend the week-end with us in the apartment has been taken away. I know the Herbon's will call and maybe the Soderbergs will call today. We will try to get to the school to receive their call. I wish the people sitting in the decision seats, would sit in the seats of the children in the boarding school. Maybe if they slept where the children slept, bathe where the children bathe, or eat as the children eat, and live as the children live, just maybe they would think about who they are serving and look the children in the eyes, they could see the importance of their work. It is more than a paycheck! I do not see how this delay is in the best interest of the children. The orphanage here is clean. The children are cared by the teachers as best as they can be. The children need hope and love. Most likely, I will not post this message. It is helping me relieve my stress and frustration. I do not have ill intent to anyone. I simply want to take care of two children that need a family, our sons!. Strike 4 : We are spending an average of 300.00 a week for daily expenses to include food, transportation and communication. At this point, we will take the bus more often as it appears we will need to extend. Oh that I was independently wealthy and could have the wish of my heart! The delay will gives me more time to learn another Ukrainian word and read more scriptures. We arrived at the school at 1345. We took the bus which took about 40 minutes to get to the school. We sat on the park bench located between the dormitory and the lesson hall. Home Run : Since we did not get a court appointment today, the Herbon's and the Soderberg;s were able to get through on Natalie's cell phone. We went and sat on the banks of the lake behind the boarding school. I played a short game of basketball with the boys. Then the children wanted ice cream. Although I am a tight wad, when it comes to pleading eyes, I am a softy. I never knew 10 cents could provide such happiness for a child! The trip down the trail across the pasture to the store started with two boys. By the time I got to the ice cream case in the store, there were 9 boys. With ice cream cones still in their hands, the boys were putting together a soccer game. Since there was only 9, I was “volunteered” to play. The field is muddy. There are several goats in the pasture in the vicinity of the soccer field. At least today's 30 minute game, the score was only 1-0. Still lost, if you are going by the goals scored, but I think I won being able to play with this great kids! At 1645 Vladimir called and said he had just received the signed documents. He had to go to the director's office to get assistance and force the issue. He is trying to get us a court appointment for Monday. Strike 5 : When Vladimir called the court, the court said they need 5 days to get 3 jurors. Vladimir promised to reward them highly if they could get a court appearance on Monday. We will continue in limbo until Monday. At 1705 we caught a van back to the center. At 1735 we stopped at the main telephone office in the center of Sumy. We placed a 100 Grinya ($20US) deposit at the clerk's window, then she told us we could use booth #12. I called to clear a fraud check on my credit card (I should have told them I was traveling out of the country) and then Nadiine called her sister in West Jordan. We talked for a total of 40 minutes and the cost was 40 Grinya's (about $8US). It was well worth the money to call home once in a while. Just need to put it in the budget. We have a joke going on, that each day, the money we would normally spend on the taxi, gets spent on something else. One day, the savings enable us to buy strawberry Jam, another day a blanket, another day a trip to McDonald's for Nadine and today's taxi money savings went to a telephone call. To make the call to the states was easyl. We did pass Natalie's cell phone number to our family member. At Callingcardplus.com , we were able to get a calling card for I think 10 cents a minute. After the telephone office we went to the huge grocery story where I exchanged the weekly $300.00 (US) at rate of 5.03 Ukrainian dollar to 1 US dollar. I tried to exchange earlier, but there were some small marks on the bills and the first bank did not want to take the money and a second bank said they would take it at a 2% penalty. Rubbish! Upon return from home, I looked at the money I received from the US bank. I had requested unmarked bills. We were in a rush the last two days before we left, we did not inspect the money. I did here and 50% of the bills have markings on them. aarrggh! Lesson learned for the next family coming this way. For dinner tonight, we cooked leftovers, potato cakes, rice and cabbage. We still have leftovers, so we will try to turn the cabbage into dumplings. They are in the freezer now to make for a quick dinner another night! We are unable to keep the children overnight, since we have not had a court. We will pick them up tomorrow morning at 1000 and take them to a “Children's park”. Posted by at 10:24 in | Link | Comments (0) Friday | October 06, 2006 OCt 5th 5 Oct 2006 – Thursday. We were successful in spending time with Zhenya and Ruslan from 1330 until 1630L. We also were able to get Ruslan shoes in for repair and it only cost 6 grinya’s (1.20 us). We should get the shoes back tomorrow. Another success was the opportunity to spend an 30 minutes with Zhenya’s teacher Lidya. It was very uplifting. She has known Zhenya since the 1 st grade and says that he will not be a common laborer but will be a leader. He has all the qualities to lead and deals with people honestly. I was lucky to play a mid-afternoon game of soccer (on asphalt) today. Afterwards, we went for ice cream. Amazing how a 20 cent ice cream can put a smile on so many faces. Another success is that Bogdan was able to communicate with family back home. This morning, we made mash potatoes. This enabled us upon our return home this evening to spend time putting together potato cakes for supper. We took the mashed potatoes, added flour and eggs to create a doughy substance. We then made dough balls. Cut the balls open and placed the cabbage that was left over from last night into the center, then closed the dough around the cabbage. The potato balls were there browned in a skillet. This was very enjoyable, but we made over 18 potatoe cakes for the three of us. All we could eat was three each. Guess what’s for Breakfast! Vladimir was unable to obtain permission from the SDA to allow us to have a court on Friday. We are not giving up hope. Vladimir hopes that he can get the approval by 1000L. If that is the case, then, he said he would quickly drive the 5 hours from Kiev, to meet with us and the judge at 1500 here in Sumy. Our prayers will be with him. . I will not concentrate on the negative what if, because it will do no good tonight to stress about it. It is in the Lord’s hand, and we must trust in him. We have received news that others who have had their SDA appointment the same day as ours, had their court this past Tuesday. Why such a delay for us, I do not know. I am being told we are moving rapidly. Or at least we were. I know that I am not independently wealthy and do not have the means to pay extreme "incentives". To end on a positive note, The roads here are rough and often unmarked. It dawn on me today, that without the markings, the local traffic can use the "Law of Weight and Size" to design the traffic flow. If you have the biggest weight or size, you can go anywhere you want. Often a two lane road, can be made into 4 lanes! Posted by at 11:34 in | Link | Comments (1) Thursday | October 05, 2006 Oct 4th Oct 4 th , 2006 – Wednesday Wow. This is the end of our 12 th day here in Ukraine. We still have not gone to court. Vladimir said he will go plead with the SDA for their decision tomorrow. He said he will be in their sight all day until they give him his requests! Vladimir and Natalie are taking good care of us. We are kept busy. All in all, it is an end of another good day. Our schedule in the morning is fairly flexible since we strive not to arrive at the boarding school during lesson time. The lessons usually begin at 0800 and with breaks for lunch and snacks, the children are fairly busy until 1330L. The weather was overcast most of the day Our first task for today was to find a shoe repair shop that could fix Ruslan’s new shoes. The sole of his new tennis shoes had already separated from the shoe. After wandering around the open market, we were directed down a back alley at the end of the market, and around a corner we found a little 3*3 foot tin booth. We showed him the problem, and he said he could fix it, but he needs the other shoe…The other shoe is back at the boarding school. We walked to the center of town (about 15 minute walk). The internet service to the city was down. It took 45 minutes before we had access. It was great to receive news from our daughters. As far as other news or current world wide events, it is almost a blackout. Which in some ways is good. The taxi driver did comment on the outrageous price of diesel fuel. After 30 minutes at the internet café and we departed and headed north (If the sun was out more I would be more certain it was north!) on foot for about 5 minutes. To our left was McDonald’s and to the right was our destination, a huge supermarket. Our quest was a jar of strawberry jam (peanut butter always goes better with jam). We were successful in finding jam and other packaged foods! We also picked up some Ukrainian chocolate which is good and addicting! We took the van (#4) from the market heading north. (Bus # 3 will also take us to the boarding school). The price is only 1 grinvyna (about 20 cents). Riding the van you get to see the common people, to see how they act, talk or dress. It is also easier to catch germs. One lady had two open buckets filled to the brim with red berries. We arrived later then planned at the school. Zhenya meet us and he said he was getting ready to cry because he thought we were not coming. We then walked to the back of the school and sat at some picnic tables located outside of a small mom and pop store and ate strawberry jam and crackers for lunch! After lunch, the boys and I played another muddy game of soccer. I still lost, but was able to burn a lot of calories trying to keep up with 10 young boys and not being able to pick up on their verbal clues! Several of the boys were playing in shorts and tank top t-shirts. Others had thread bare and ripped pants. The boys are healthy. Just need some family love and you would have perfect children. After 30 minutes into the game, Tolia (Peckham) sprained his ankle and the game was injured. It hurt to see him cry in pain and not being able to comfort him. I offered to carry him on my back, but he was to much of a man. He hobbled across the pasture (soccer field) to the boarding school clinic. Shortly thereafter, he came out smiling and kicking the soccer ball again. Ruslan also had Physical Training today. After we watched him do his warm ups and run, they broke up into groups. This time we played soccer on an asphalt pad. Not sure how the kids did it, especially playing in warn out tennis shoes or sandals! My team lost again, 5 to 0. Boys will be boys. There was some scuffling between a set of brothers, because the younger accidentally tripped his older brother, then the older brother went and tackled his younger brother, forcing tears to the younger child. Later they were side by side being happy and playing with each other! Throughout the afternoon, Natalie diligently tried to get international access to her cell phone to facilitate the Summercorn’s phone call to Bogdan. His birthday was yesterday, and he was looking forward to a call from the states. When the call finally came through this afternoon, although Bogdan is shy, you could see his happiness upon hearing from his family. He even posed for a couple of photos for Nadine. As the day was ending, the boys turned into monkeys. I hope to post one of the several photos of them hanging upside down on a basketball hoop frame. The kids have some much happiness within them, despite their circumstances, and I am glad they are sharing a little with Nadine and I. We returned home by van tonight. For dinner, we are having rice, cauliflower and stewed cabbage. The meal took over two hours to prepare, but it was very delicious. I probably failed to mention earlier that Nadine purchased a belt because she has lost weight over here. I should have purchased a belt as well. But loosing weight is not all that bad! Note: We were given a word of caution. We are told that we are allowed to take pictures of Zhenya and Ruslan. The director has been kind to allow us to take pictures of the school, their friends and environment. I consider all the children that were hosted the same time as Zhenya as friends. If you do not see a picture of a child you hosted, please let us know. At the same time, to ensure that we still have the privilege to take future pictures and to protect the children, do not repost the children’s photo’s to other locations for world wide access. I am unable to password protect photo's on this blog. Please protect the children's pictures. Thanks for your understanding. Posted by at 12:16 in | Link | Comments (0) Wednesday | October 04, 2006 3 Oct 2006 Oct 3 rd, - Tuesday - Two days and a wake up before our court date (If everything goes well). We are still waiting for SDA to give us permission to have a custody court. Hopefully the approval will come by Thursday, then Vladimir will drive down Thursday evening or 1st thing Friday morning for the court here in Sumy. We can do no more to expedite the process. Here are a few of our highlights today: 1. We arrived at the boarding school in time for Zhenya’s Physical Training class. He reminds me of a teacher’s favorite. He is always by her side! She uses him to show the proper example of how to do the warm up exercises or any sports activities. He was able to conduct 6 proper chin-ups. I was able to do 1! They have a metal pole that is about 3 inches in diameter. The children climb this 15 foot pool with ease. I can not make it half way. It is good to see the children being active with so much energy and love for physical training. 2. We were able to get permission, on a school day to take the boys home. We had them in our home from 1400-1640L. When we arrived, they told us they were hungry. We prepared potato dumplings and ramen noodles, bread, cucumbers, bananas (about everything we had in the house). They ate everything and made sure there were no leftovers. The boys said they did not like Borscht, however, we asked them to try our’s. They said it was very delicious and asked for more! Yeah! After 30 minutes of TV (The watched Sabrina, the teen-age witch!) we turned off the TV and had 30 minutes of English Lesson. We started in the living room and moved to the bedroom. Naming all the items in English and having the children repeat and memorize the words. They seemed to have enjoyed the lesson, and remember. We will see what they retained tomorrow! Then Zhenya said "Papa, Let’s Wrestle!" in English. So for a few minutes we turned the bed in to a wrestling ring. Ruslan of course wanted to join in on the activities. The wrestling turned into "Pile up on Dad" We survived with zero injuries! The time to return came too soon and of course the return trip is always much quieter. 3. I had the opportunity and took it to work side by side with the children at the boarding school. The children were raking leaves. I was able to join in with them. We used an old rake and straw brooms to gather the leaves. Then a plastic tub was loaded with the leaves. We carried the leaves across the street into the woods and placed them in the small gully! While raking leaves, an instructor named Katerina stopped and mentioned she had just returned from some time off. She asked if we would like to see a museum of Sumy Cultural history. We agreed. The location of the museum is on the ground floor of the boys dormitory. The teacher had used her own earning to put together this museum. It was wonderful. She had collected several items from the Czar era, and pre-cold war error and during the cold war. It was amazing what she had put together. For all future visitors, I would encourage you to enquire about the museum and ask to see it. We would never have know of it’s existence. The teacher felt that the kids must know the history in order to learn for the future. She did a wonderful job. Nadine took several photos to put together in a scrapbook to help Zhenya and Ruslan remember their heritage. 4. While at the boarding school a young man approached us. He asked if there were other families in America that would like to adopt. He asked if he gave us information about him, if Natalie would translate for him and if we could post a picture of him. His name is Maxim. We will find out more tomorrow about him. He appears to be a strong, intelligence and healthy lad. Nadine considers him "Good Looking and the girls would go crazy over him". If I had the finances and the ability, I would bring him home to America in a heartbeat. Most people want to bring home the younger children, and the older children get left out and have a bleak future. We will do what we can to honor his desire to let people know he exist and he does not want to be forgotten. He wants a family to love. It is amazing how in life, so often we think about ourselves, and how we will climb the financial latter, and here is a simple request that makes life worth living! Now I understand a little more deeply the importance of Vern and Nannette’s hosting program and the desires of Save a Child. Oh the joy for helping just one. We returned to the home late tonight, but it was a good day. We stopped by the market; purchase a 6 liter bottle of water and some orange juice. (I did spoil Nadine and she purchased some caramel ice cream) We quickly fried some potatoes and opened a package of tuna fish that we had brought over from the states for dinner. Oct 3 rd, - Tuesday - Two days and a wake up before our court date (If everything goes well). We are still waiting for SDA to give us permission to have a custody court. Hopefully the approval will come by Thursday, then Vladimir will drive down Thursday evening or 1st thing Friday morning for the court here in Sumy. We can do no more to expedite the process. Here are a few of our highlights today: 1. We arrived at the boarding school in time for Zhenya’s Physical Training class. He reminds me of a teacher’s favorite. He is always by her side! She uses him to show the proper example of how to do the warm up exercises or any sports activities. He was able to conduct 6 proper chin-ups. I was able to do 1! They have a metal pole that is about 3 inches in diameter. The children climb this 15 foot pool with ease. I can not make it half way. It is good to see the children being active with so much energy and love for physical training. 2. We were able to get permission, on a school day to take the boys home. We had them in our home from 1400-1640L. When we arrived, they told us they were hungry. We prepared potato dumplings and ramen noodles, bread, cucumbers, bananas (about everything we had in the house). They ate everything and made sure there were no leftovers. The boys said they did not like Borscht, however, we asked them to try our’s. They said it was very delicious and asked for more! Yeah! After 30 minutes of TV (The watched Sabrina, the teen-age witch!) we turned off the TV and had 30 minutes of English Lesson. We started in the living room and moved to the bedroom. Naming all the items in English and having the children repeat and memorize the words. They seemed to have enjoyed the lesson, and remember. We will see what they retained tomorrow! Then Zhenya said "Papa, Let’s Wrestle!" in English. So for a few minutes we turned the bed in to a wrestling ring. Ruslan of course wanted to join in on the activities. The wrestling turned into "Pile up on Dad" We survived with zero injuries! The time to return came too soon and of course the return trip is always much quieter. 3. I had the opportunity and took it to work side by side with the children at the boarding school. The children were raking leaves. I was able to join in with them. We used an old rake and straw brooms to gather the leaves. Then a plastic tub was loaded with the leaves. We carried the leaves across the street into the woods and placed them in the small gully! While raking leaves, an instructor named Katerina stopped and mentioned she had just returned from some time off. She asked if we would like to see a museum of Sumy Cultural history. We agreed. The location of the museum is on the ground floor of the boys dormitory. The teacher had used her own earning to put together this museum. It was wonderful. She had collected several items from the Czar era, and pre-cold war error and during the cold war. It was amazing what she had put together. For all future visitors, I would encourage you to enquire about the museum and ask to see it. We would never have know of it’s existence. The teacher felt that the kids must know the history in order to learn for the future. She did a wonderful job. Nadine took several photos to put together in a scrapbook to help Zhenya and Ruslan remember their heritage. 4. While at the boarding school a young man approached us. He asked if there were other families in America that would like to adopt. He asked if he gave us information about him, if Natalie would translate for him and if we could post a picture of him. His name is Maxim. We will find out more tomorrow about him. He appears to be a strong, intelligence and healthy lad. Nadine considers him "Good Looking and the girls would go crazy over him". If I had the finances and the ability, I would bring him home to America in a heartbeat. Most people want to bring home the younger children, and the older children get left out and have a bleak future. We will do what we can to honor his desire to let people know he exist and he does not want to be forgotten. He wants a family to love. It is amazing how in life, so often we think about ourselves, and how we will climb the financial latter, and here is a simple request that makes life worth living! Now I understand a little more deeply the importance of Vern and Nannette’s hosting program and the desires of Save a Child. Oh the joy for helping just one. We returned to the home late tonight, but it was a good day. We stopped by the market; purchase a 6 liter bottle of water and some orange juice. (I did spoil Nadine and she purchased some caramel ice cream) We quickly fried some potatoes and opened a package of tuna fish that we had brought over from the states for dinner.v Posted by at 13:07 in | Link | Comments (1) Tuesday | October 03, 2006 Oct 3rd Oct 2 nd , Monday A heavy fog had settled over Sumy, Ukraine during the night. When I arose at 0630L this more and looked out the north windows, I could not see the street, let alone the 14 story apartment buildings across the street. The ladies slept in today. It has been nice having Natalie stay in the extra bedroom. We received a call from the Soderberg family around 0900L this morning. We arranged for them to call back at 1500L in order for us to be at the boarding school. We decided to keep the boys going to there lessos during the day. The boys will not get out of their classes until 1300L. We walked to the internet café down by the center of town.. It was maybe a 15 minute walk at the most. The walk was enjoyable. The sun overhead quickly burnt off the fog. October 1 st , was “Day of Teachers” We purchased 3 sets of roses to have the boys deliver to their school teachers. Each set had 5 roses each. The total cost for the flowers were 45 Grinvyna.($9) While at the market, we purchased a comforter. Nadine’s bed in the apartment is an “orthopedic” bed, but Nadine has not been sleeping on the bed due to it’s extreme firmness. The couch had been a more comfortable bed for her. The cost for the blanket was only $55 Grinvyna. We hire a taxi to the boarding school. The taxi driver presented us with an authentic Russian retirement award medal that was given to his parents during the cold war. We arrived at the school shortly before 1300L at the taxi fare was only 14 Grinvyna. The afternoon was spent tossing an American nerf football that belonged to Tolia (Peckman) Then with several children we kicked the soccer ball in front of the dormitory. At about 1430, we went to a muddy soccer field and played a game. It was a lot of fun. Roman and Yulei were there, as well as Zhenya, Ruslan, Bob and a couple of other kids. Altogether there were 9 people in line wanting ice cream after the game! Tolia, Stan and Dasha came across the school grounds with a huge smile on their faces. They had received letters from the Peckham’s. After the soccer game and ice cream, we returned to the three story dormitory. We visited Zhenya’s room. Posted on the hallway walls outside of his room were several athletic awards Zhenya had earned. Included in this awards was the first place award for his race on Saturday. We left the boarding school at 1700L. We called for a taxi, but it did not come. We walked, maybe ½ mile to a street and caught a bus/van. It was only 3 grivnya’s for the 3 of us. It took a little longer since we had to stop at every hand that wave down the bus or someone wanted to get off. Transportation today was different but fun. Tonight we were treated to Borscht. Borscht ended up being in my simple mind a delicious Ukrainian vegetable soup with beets. Tonight Natalie received a call from Vladimer. It appears that a French family that hosted RUSLAN during the summer in France wants to adopt him and they will be visiting the orphanage in October. The family called the director. The situation is that we have invited him into our family and have started the bonding process. The paper work has all been done to unite him with the family. Friday we should have the court. Our concern is, what if this family loves Ruslan, as much as we love Zhenya. We would be devastated if someone tried to take Zhenya away from us. Are we devastating another family’s dream? We want to build and not tear down. What’s a little stress anyway? Nadine is concerned, and so am I, but I feel comfortable that what will happen will be for the best. We will not pay a ransom for Ruslan. Will continue to pray for the Lord’s I posted several pictures of the children today Posted by at 12:38 in | Link | Comments (1) Search My Advertisement Categories Archives October - 2006 September - 2006 Syndication RSS Atom Albums Kiev Sumy Ukraine Part 2 Sumy, Ukraine Random Blog