One week in

Let the slow process of bonding begin. There was a little glimpse of hope when I saw a crack in the ice appear. Before she came to the play room I heard a care giver speak to her in Russian, "Who's here?" She happily responded with, "Mama." Bahh!! :3 She is silly, clever, sassy, and most of all, a tease.  Certain caregivers have been teaching her colors in English. She likes this game where mama and her stick this colored button on a game board, say the color of the button in Russian, and follow up with the English name. It is so cute to hear, and absolutely melts my heart. I was able to get her to say colors throughout our playdate with the help of candy. King of all negotiations.  Progress is being made :)

Orphanage bound

Somehow our last update got erased. Mobile blogs are complicated and at certain times not so user friendly. Here we go. I am completely random in thought and use freestyle writing as an advantage.  Last week, we had a successful SDA appt and travelled to the location to where the orphanage is. After a full month of hurdles, we have met the one who was chosen for us. I will use the name Pearl until we gain custody of her.  Pearl is cute as ever, and so sweet. She has always wanted a papa and lit up the first time she locked eyes with him. Sasha didn't quite know how to interact with her.  Both girls like the idea of a sister, but when mixing two shy girls nothing happens. We will give it some time. Only having two visits with Pearl, Scott and Sasha had to return to the  States. They both had exceeded their one month limit of excused time off.
    
     I stayed behind to bond with Pearl. The first week is always the hardest.  I have been given info hearsay that genetically,  Ukrainian girls are always daddy's girls. I am not sure that always holds true at first, but in this case I might.  I have got her to smile, talk with the help of a treat, play, but so far has a hard time with affection. That is ok. You can't rush that. I have learned with Sasha that patience is key.

     I miss my family and friends back home but in good hands here. Scott has been a champion as a single dad. He has been my rock as well. I cannot think of a better husband to share this journey with.

Any News?

November 10th

December 1st

From the date that sam and I had arrived we have witnessed the latest events grow from a small gathering to over 100,000 people flooding the city. We have had a unique perspective having stayed across the street from city hall where the first protests began. To just steps away from St. Michaels Monastery just days before the influx of people began to arrive. Earlier this week we found ourselves amidst the masses when visiting a local park for Sasha to play. It has been a little surreal to see the same landscape we have only recently become familiar with as a backdrop for world news stories. Last week we moved from the apartment across from St. Michaels to a smaller one further away from the action, although still within earshot of the concussion grenades last night. We are safe and continuing to wait as our paperwork completes the process. The saying that every adoption is different is certainly ringing true for us. Our first trip I realize just how very fortunate we were to have been able to spend so much time with Sasha prior to coming home. While we all may not get that opportunity with this adoption I am hopeful we will get the opportunity soon.

All I want for christmas is...

Yesterday was a cause for celebration Sasha lost her first tooth she has been tugging and wiggling for weeks. Technically this is her second tooth, but this is the first one she had pulled all on her own. There seems to be a right of passage when you pull your first tooth I had long forgotten. She is growing up so quickly it seems like such a short time ago we were writing daily updates about some new breakthrough we had together at the orphanage. While we have not had an opportunity to meet our new addition as of yet; this trip has certainly brought us closer together with Sasha. Thank you everyone for helping to make this possible, happy thanksgiving.

3 little pigs

Sam had probably mentioned that we had an opportunity to meet a family friend. She teaches english here in and took time to give us a true Kiev experience we will never forget. We started at the children's puppet show. For those of you in Utah imagine a building like the Capital Theater dedicated to puppet shows for children. Natalia had been at a conference earlier and mentioned it to some english speaking colleagues who were also interested in watching the performance.

The building was surrounded by bronze sculptures of childhood stories. Inside was a room filled with many of the puppets used in the performance. A royal throne room complete with everything needed to run a royal court. And a aquarium that ran almost the full length of the building full of fish and other freshwater creatures. The performance was delightful despite Sasha was engaged and joined in on every opportunity to participate.

Family time

We certainly have been busy while waiting for our next SDA appt.  Yesterday, we were introduced to a lady who is a mom of a friend of Scott's brother.Ha! I got a chuckle after typing that. She had wrote down a list of family fun activites that we could choose from, and was our tour guide for the day. We decided on the Kyiv Zoo(Which I really don't recommend this time of year, but Sasha had her heart set on it), and the experimental science museum for kids. That museum was cool. It is a fun way to introduce leverage, lazers, and optical illusions with mirrors. While all the girls were enjoying being a kid at heart, Scott went to the Chernobyl Museum.  He reports that it was interesting it really put a human face  on the disaster.  Each person that died was marked in the exhibit.  It also had various art exhibits dedicated to the human cost of nucleur power.
     We had a blast, and I am pretty sure she did as well.

Moving forward

Patience and flexibility are necessary with any adoption.   Our first one was perfect. We were told it was a model adoption.  Our current one  hasn't been so fortunate. We have encountered a twist of which we're not at liberty to go into detail. We know that we are here for someone. While waiting for our needed addendum,  we decided to travel to Crimea for the weekend. With Russia being close to it's borders, I am curious if it somehow parallels the lifestyle. We were lucky to visit a cafe that spoke moderate English as we found out most on this peninsula speak only Russian.
    I have had questions about how Sasha is handling all of this. I am happy to report that she is handling all of this like a trooper. She was pretty whiny the first week, but has been flexible with all the change. She honestly thinks this is one big field trip. We are trying to create a structured day for her so there is time for school work, and a time for play. That has really helped. We have a deck of number cards and I have been teaching her games such as war and go fish. She has been thoroughly enjoying the play time together.
    With the wait of the addendum, it has put a delay in our process. Hopefully, sometime along the duration it will balance out. If I can help it, I would like to stay for this whole trip. I am not sure if that is possible just as of yet. I may take 2 trips. Scott will definitely have to make two. Please pray for us as we move forward in the right direction,  and that we get another SDA appt before Scott and Sasha have to leave next Saturday.