Ukraine

Video of Ethan in the kiddie pool

2010-06-26T15:52:00.002-04:00

Just Pictures Look further down for update

2010-06-21T00:45:00.006-04:00

Got you know Daddy

Mummy really more pictures

Day at Southside Park

Hanging out with my big sister

I look cool in Laura's old sunglasses

Far too long

2010-06-20T22:50:00.008-04:00

Ethan leaving Ukraine

Our plane from Amsterdam to Montreal

The flight from Montreal to Toronto, ya

Our welcome home balloons, mum thought smilley faces were good seeing as we had sent a lot of these on MSN

New way to ride the bike

Well we have been home 8 weeks, strange to think now that is not even as long as we were gone. I still find my self counting the weeks and thinking oh my gosh we really were gone a long time. So what have we and Ethan been up to since getting home you all ask, well for me it has been a lot of time spent in the basement trying to pull the first DOCC event together which was back at the end of May. The first 2 weeks after getting home, Martin and I could not stay awake past 9pm. This then only gave me 3 weeks to get Mosport organized, so I spent every hour that Ethan was sleeping, in the basement at the computer to the point that Martin called me the troll under the stairs. lol. After the event I took a week and half away from the computer as I really was sick of it, and started with problems with my elbows due to typing so much (I wonder why). I am now in the process of trying to enjoy the sun outside and my new son along with trying to get ready for yet another DOCC event in less than 2 weeks. I have thought about the many things we did with Laura when she first came home and it is sad but with your second it really is old hat in some ways. This is not to say he is not a delight to have, more on Ethan later. Martin started back to work on May 6, we had a really big scare when Firestone called a week before he was due to go back saying he was going to night shifts, we are glad he has a job but my goodness, this was going to be really hard going back on swing shifts. Anyway half hour later they called back to say no he was not going on swing shifts. We were both really relieved. Since then he has settled back into the routine of work, like he never left. Such is life.

Laura went back to school I think it was a week after we got home, and although she really complained about it she also settled back better than we all thought she would, and is now on a new med and doing extremely well at school, we are really proud of her. Again hard to believe but she will not have been back at school as long as we were gone, and this just before summer holidays start.

Now I know what you all really want to know is how is Ethan. Well in true style he has settled in just fine, just like Laura did. He is certainly a good fit for our family, and it is strange to think already that he has not always been with us. Once home he slept in a playpen in our room to start with just so that when he woke up we were there as in Kiev he had slept with one of us all the time. We did this for just over a week then moved him to the crib and not had a problem at all. He goes down for a 2 hour nap around 11am and goes to bed as good as gold at night. We are not sure what time he wakes up in a morning as he makes no sound at all, and some days I go in at 7:30 and he is still asleep others he is awake. He always wakes up happy and loves to have a cuddle when he first comes out of the crib; once he has the cuddle look out because his feet have hit the floor running. This is new, the running, as he has never had the space to do it. We have to keep all the doors closed down the hall but his room; as the bathroom he likes to unroll the toilet paper, Laura's room is like he has hit the jackpot when it comes to toys, and our room well that is where things get put he is not allowed to have. Each morning Laura gets up and runs to the top of the stairs to make sure the gate is closed, we now call her "The Gate Keeper". Ethan likes things with wheels and proceeds to turn everything upside down just to get at them and spin them. Martin calls him his wheel junky. Oh yes and he loves the vacuum, yep another child who will stop what he is doing if he hears that closet door open. He likes the hose the best. Unlike Laura was, Ethan is not afraid of different flooring, as in the different transition between rooms and such. He has also discovered he can open the screen door on to the deck (the lock is broken) and will run out there given half the chance. He has not figured out how to go down stairs though and just thinks you step off the edge and it will all be ok. He has fallen down a flight of stairs once at a friends house but all was well.
He is trying to talk and some of the words he can sort of say are:

up
hiya
eyes
Laura
Muma
Diddit for Daddy
good boy
vroom vroom for the bike (guess who taught him that)
kaka for a stinky bum (grabs your nose and says kaka too)
stinky

and he babbles a lot so we know he is trying.

He loves to go in swings, and down slides at the park, and giggles and smiles at both. Saturday was his first time in the kiddie pool at mums and he thinks this is wonderful. He has not been in the big pool yet, as Martin wants to be there when he does and we have not had a chance to do it. I do know that I have two fish for children though.

Ethan has discovered his temper when he does not get what he wants and he sure does let us know by yelling babble at us and stomping his feet, then collapsing to the floor in a dramatic heap when he doesn't get his way. We just watch and smile and even laugh sometimes as it is kind of funny. Poor kid. I do hope the temper does not continue though as it may be an issue later when he really figures out his words. He loves to wrestle with Martin and cuddle with me.

He is an out door child and gets really excited when I put his shoes on. He likes to go in the trampoline with Laura and she is a great big sister at bouncing him. He watches everything she does and copies it right away, he is a sponge right now.

As far as his health goes he is well, we have been to the Dr's and they ran a full blood work on him, 6 viles of blood, poor little chap, stool samples, and a full abdominal ultra sound. From this we found out he has only 1 kidney. The other could have been hiding as he was crying alot but we don't think so. We will try again in a few years when he does not get as upset about it all. Tomorrow we go see a heart Dr. and he will have an echo done just to make sure the heart is ok, as the reports from Ukraine gave us some doubt. But the Dr. thinks he is just fine. He is eating very well now, and I don't have to mush everthing up any more, he is really learning to chew his food. When we first took him to the Dr's he was around 20lbs he is now 22lbs.

Well I could go on and on with things but right now it is almost midnight and I really should get to bed.
I am sorry it has taken this long to write this and post pictures. Many of our friends we have not had a chance to see yet nor have we had a chance to introduce Ethan but I am hoping to come out of the basement around mid July. lol

Love to all

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

I am singing from the roof tops

2010-04-23T09:39:00.003-04:00

WE ARE HOME, WE ARE HOME, WE ARE HOME. I think you will all understand that we are home FINALLY. Oh what a feeling it is, I keep walking around the house looking at rooms going wow then I look outside and go wow. It is hard to believe that we are here at last but it was not without a few bumps on the journey home so this is the continuation of our journey.

Tuesday morning we got up and did our usual thing turn the TV on to BBC world news to see the latest news, to our surprise airports in the Netherlands and across Europe were open. I phoned KLM and they said yes the flight was to go out, but we did not trust this, so Martin took off to the KLM office, he ran back to the apartment to tell me yes it was going, so we had to kick into high gear. I packed washed the kids up and got generally ready. Martin had to leave again to get nappies and food for Ethan as we were not sure if we would get stuck in Amsterdam. I had arranged for us to be picked up at 3:30 but they were a little late, and we left the apartment at 3:50. In true Kiev fashion the traffic was bumper to bumper and Martin and I were getting worried that we would not make it in time. Our driver was really good and took back streets as much as he could to get around the traffic. Once out of the city it was 130KM to the airport, and we made it on time. Oh ya, that’s the actual speed limit in the fast lane, the next lane is 120 then 90 then 70...it’s great. There were a couple more kicks to the teeth for us though. We got through to the check-in desk and thought ok we are good but then they informed us there were no ticket #'s on our paper, talk about our hearts sinking, they then said that Laura's ticket showed her going to Toronto, this would have been great if we all had been going. The time was ticking and after 30 mins they finally got the problem sorted and they sent us to security. For those of you who have not flown in a while, this means coats off, computer has to be taken out of the case, Martin has to remove his belt, stroller collapsed and everything put on the conveyer belt and at times shoes off and everything out of your pockets. Not an easy task with 2 kids and when you’re rushing. Then they decide to search Laura's hand luggage which is just full of her toys, Martin and I are now in a bigger panic. Finally we left there and then had to go through passport control, here they wanted to see Ethan's adoption papers so we dragged them out, by this time the girl from KLM had come to find us as they were now holding the plane for us. The customs officer took his sweet old time then said he would be right back, by this time Martin and I were both sweating thinking this is it, we are going to be stuck here again we truly thought we would miss the plane. Even the KLM woman asked them if there was a problem. Finally he let us go and it was a mad dash to the plane, it was like something out of a movie. Once on the plane the hostess and even the Captain told us to take our time. I was even given a drink of water. We were finally leaving Ukraine.

We arrived in Amsterdam and went straight to the hotel that is in the airport. We could not leave the airport as Ethan did not have a visa in his passport to do this. There were cots all over the place that they had set up for the stranded passengers, but by this time they had got a lot of the flights out. We found the hotel and were pleased to find out they had a room, what a relief. It was a good room, small and no windows but there were comfortable beds and we were part way home.

After a good night’s sleep we still had time to kill in the airport. (You book the hotel for a 12 hour period not 24) Laura enjoyed looking at the planes and watching the engines turn. All this time we kept checking the boards worried that it would suddenly say Cancelled. At 1:30 we made our way down to the gate, they took us to the front of the line and we got boarded first because of the kids. We could not believe that we were sitting on a plane bound for Canada. Now we still have to have one last worry and that was it was announced there was a problem with the toilets and they would have to try to fix it. So we sat for an hour while they tried to fix a toilet. Yep we were delayed by a toilet. In the end they taped it off and said not to use it.
As the plane taxied to the run way it all seemed so strange that it was going to happen. The flight was good and the KLM staff were wonderful, we had one struggle with Ethan, he was tired and did not want to go to sleep we got him off with 2 hours to go in the flight. When the plane touched down Laura and I cheered and yelled we are home we made it. People around us just smiled and laughed. We had a wonderful surprise as we walked out to see our friend from Montreal, Janet Martin, had come to greet us, this was very special as it would have felt so strange not having anyone there. Thanks so much Janet. We got some supper and marvelled at the fact we could read the menu and signs. Then it was on to the West Jet flight at 7:30 and Toronto bound we were. Laura spent the whole flight punching her arms in the air saying we are going home. Once landed we rushed to get our luggage and oh how the tears flowed once we saw the family. Thanks to Kim's Mum and Dad who made the trip down from Markham to greet us home also.
So we made it, and oh ya I did get down and kiss the ground in Toronto.
The trip home seemed so real, and I was so glad to see the house. Our neighbours had made a sign to greet us and Mum and Robert had balloons outside and in, this Laura really liked.
Well we have finally (I use that word a lot) finished our journey and achieved what we set out to do 10 and Half weeks ago. We have a son, seen many sights, experienced many emotions and had lots of ups and downs. Ethan is adjusting to his new life and so are we. This is something we will never forget and Ethan will be told when he is older, what a story he has to tell.
So to sum it all up there is another empty crib in Ukraine and a full one in Canada with a full life ahead of us all and for Ethan a life time of LOVE.

Love to you all for all the support you have given us it has meant so much to Martin and I knowing that people were interested in what was going on. Now please feel free to come visit us and meet the newest member of the Waterland Family.

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

P.S To all perspective parents looking to Ukraine to adopt that have been following this blog please feel free to contact us either by phone or email. There is much I could tell you and advice to give, and places you really need to go see. Jennifer.

Update - out of Ukraine

2010-04-21T04:22:00.001-04:00

We flew to Amsterdam yesterday Tuesday and have stayed the night in the hotel in the airport. We are now schduled to fly to Montreal this afternoon, then we will get a flight to Toronto that is everything goes to plan.

Jenny

frustrated in Ukraine

2010-04-20T02:33:00.003-04:00

We are in an apartment in Kiev, have been since Saturday. We had hoped to fly out on Tuesday evening to Amsterdam then on Wednesday to Montreal. We don't think this is going to happen, as only a few flights are going into and out of Amsterdam.
Our patience is wearing very thin now and totally we are starting to go crazy. If we don't get this flight today, I don't think we will get one till next week or even after that, as most flights are booked. We are looking into flying any where in Canada just to get back on to Canadain soil. So those friends in Calgary you may see us too.
anyway talk to you all later

Jenny

STUCK- Damn volcano

2010-04-16T13:25:00.002-04:00

Well I thought things could just not got worse but it has. We are stuck in Ukraine and not even for paper work this time a stupid volcano thousand of miles away in Iceland. For those of you who have not heard go watch the news. We have no clue as to when we will get home at this time the flights are all booked up thats if they fly. So for now we are in a hotel for tonight and beyond that don't have a clue.
Will keep you updated when I can.

Paper work all done

2010-04-14T15:06:00.001-04:00

We are all most at the end of the journey (finally) It has been hard to put things down the last week as I have been consumed by Ethan’s passport and spent most days staring at the phone waiting for it to ring. Now that my head is a little clearer here are some of the things we have done and where we are now in the process.

As you know we got the call yesterday to say Natasha was on her way to pick up the passport. She made the train last night for the overnight trip to Kiev. She called to ask us to meet her at the train station in the morning to pick the passport up from her. On a side note I want to add that I will always consider Natasha a good friend, she has had a lot of troubles this month as her husband got very sick and then while on the train last night found out her husband and son had been in a car accident and the car is badly damaged. A car was driving straight at him and he swerved to miss the head on collision and hit another car. They are both ok but this was very hard for Natasha to cope with being so far away. We have exchanged addresses, emails and phone numbers to keep in touch. She’s done a lot for us. She will be able to spend the next 10 days at home with her family which will be good for all of them.
Yesterday we took the children to the park for some fun in the sun and they both enjoyed this. We walked back through the botanical garden park and it was wonderful to hear the song birds singing.

This morning we got up and made the short walk to the train station, it was the best feeling to hold Ethan’s passport in my hands. We spent an hour with Natasha before she got on the bus for the 4 hour trip home. She now gets the 10 days at home. Hooray. I then took Martin and Laura a walk through the train station as Martin had not seen the inside when we left, he had to walk around with the luggage and porter. At 10:45 Lesya called to say that we would be going to the Canadian Embassy today to get Ethan’s Visa, this is the last step before coming home. She said only I needed to go so I was picked up at noon by Irena and Valdim and was taken to get a visa picture done, then on to the embassy. I finished filling out the paper work from the paper work Irena had and waited for Olesya to come down. This is who works in the visa and Immigration department at the embassy. She looked the paperwork over and said everything was in order and that we are to come back at 4:30 to pick it up. Before she came down I should tell you that Ethan decided that he needed his nappy changing so there was a table that he got changed on, but my backpack which included my hand bag are not allowed in the embassy so I had luckily carried a nappy and wipes in with me. Then on the trip home I gave Ethan a drink of apple juice, he was sitting beside me and I looked down to see that he had thrown up all over his coat, luckily it had not gone on the seat in Valdims car. I think he got a little car sick. With no Martin there to help it made my life interesting. At this point there is no more paper work to be done, and tomorrow we can enjoy the day, get the kids and us to bed for hopefully 6 hours of sleep before the 20 hours of travelling on Friday.

So we are almost packed and ready to go and right now waiting for the phone to ring 1 more time to get the visa.

Oh ya Laura and Martin have gone to the park for a bit seeing as it is sunny and warm again today, I have stayed home so Ethan could have a nap.

It is funny I have many mixed feeling about coming home now that things are almost at the end. I will be so glad to get there, but I know that this experience will feel like a dream once in Woodstock. We have had some good times and bad times while here. Lows and highs, it has covered every emotion I have. We have made some new friends, some we will see again and others we will not, and some we have to leave here in Ukraine as their process is not yet done. I know one thing when Ethan is old enough to be told he will hear all about how he came into our lives.

See you all very soon
Jennifer, Martin, Laura and Ethan who has a passport now.

..........................................................

Just a quick up date from when I last typed this. I was picked up at 4pm and taken to the notary office to sign some papers, it was then off to the embassy. Olesya met us in the entrance with all of Ethan’s paperwork and the all important passport with a visa for Canada, as I came out I jumped for joy and Irena said to me “well that is the end”. So that is it for the paperwork trail, we are free of it now. I have been busy this evening packing so tomorrow we can enjoy our last day.

See you all this weekend.

WE ARE ALL COMING HOME - HORRAY

2010-04-13T05:39:00.000-04:00

Oh I wish you could have seen our faces when we received the call from Natasha to say that Ethan’s passport was in Zaperasha. I started to jump up and down in the kitchen, Martin was laying down with Ethan for his nap but came out when he heard me, and joined me in my joy. Laura just looked at me with the biggest smile on her face, not sure what to make of her mother. Then the tears started to flow from both Martin and I. Martin said to me he never thought he would feel like this. Laura is happy that she does not have to leave her mummy in Ukraine. Poor Ethan wondered what the heck was going on with all the excitement and proceeded to take the opportunity to crawl off the bed and make his escape. We did get him back and down for the nap that he needed. So Friday morning we will be winging our way home HORRAY
Natasha is now on her way by taxi (5hours) to pick the passport up then on to a train for the 10 hour trip back to Kiev. Tomorrow we should be going to the Canadian Embassy to get the immigration paper work done. Then at between 8-9pm Canada time Thursday night, Friday morning 3-4 am to us, we will be getting up to make the long journey home.

You all finally get to meet our new son Ethan William.

Love to you all thanks for all the prayers and crossed fingers you sent our way.

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

2010-04-11T09:57:00.002-04:00

this is how Ethan is coming home

coin operated helicopter

Ice Rink at Dream Town

Ducati Dealer but you can see that

Another Weekend in Kiev

2010-04-11T09:15:00.001-04:00

Saturday April 10, 2010

Well we should have been on a plane today and it is really hard not to think of that. One good thing is my tummy bug had settled down and we decided we would go out for the day.
Our first adventure was to try to find the one and only Ducati Dealer here in Ukraine, then to continue onto Dream Town Mall for some fun for Laura. Lucky both of these places are just one subway stop apart so first it was off to find the Duc dealer. Ethan seems to like the subway and laughs when the train starts moving. We think this is going to be good practice for him on the plane being around all the people and the movement and noise. Once to our first stop we had a very long walk hoping we were heading in the right direction down a 4 lane highway, past the Mazda, Ford, Toyota, Mercedes Dealers and some others as well. It is the most open space we have seen in the city there was even a fly over, but I must tell you there were a lot of people walking down the sidewalks of this road. Martin started to have withdrawl systems as we saw a lot of motor bikes and we had a bunch go by together even for me it sounded good. After a good 30 mins of walking we found the mall where we thought it was. We walked into this tunnel area to see the Ducati Dealer, not a single sign out by the road to tell us it was there. No one was in the showroom, which had a lot of bikes including Laura’s Peg Perago Monster, leathers and Ducati regalia. There was only one women working and when we told her where we were from and that we belonged to the Ducati Club in Canada she seemed mildly interested. She did answer our questions for us and I got some pictures of the inside and outside of the store. We now can say we have been to the dealer in Kiev. I am sure no one else in the club can say this.
It was then the long walk back to the subway and up one more stop to Obolon this is the Dream Town stop. Laura wanted to go ice skating so this is the first thing they did, it cost $12 for 45 mins and Martin says the ice was a little soft but the skates were sharp. Laura really had a lot of fun and Ethan enjoyed watching them skate. Martin did pick Ethan up for one trip around the rink which he just laughed the whole way around. Ethan got his turn at a bit of fun when we put him in a coin operated helicopter that went up and down, again he just started to giggle at it all. Laura then went in a bouncy castle with slide for 30 mins and it only cost $6 and worth every penny to see her happy. Some supper was in order so we went to the food court and found Mc Foxy and had the sloppiest chicken burger ever and only just tasted good, but it filled the spot. By now it was 9:00 and time to head for home with 2 tired children, but it still took us an hour by the subway to do this.
We had a fun day and it was a good test to see if Ethan would sleep for us on the way home, he probably will not as he never slept all afternoon.

Today Sunday we are just sitting around, 2 baths and 2 showers later and laundry being done the day is passing by, and after all the walking yesterday Laura needs down time again. Infact she is down for the count as I type.

Counting the days yet again

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

UPDATE

2010-04-10T05:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we were told that Ethan’s passport was still not printed but the company had started to print passports. We are told that it will be done next Tuesday. The earliest we could get a seat on a flight is Friday April 16 so we have rebooked for this date, and hoping that we are all on it this time. I am still fighting the tummy bug so we have not gone anywhere except to go to the KLM office for the tickets. We did stop on our way home after KLM at McDonalds for an ice cream which was the first time Ethan had had this and he loved it. Auntie Kimmie you have new competition.

Love

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan with no passport

No news on Passport yet

2010-04-09T04:11:00.001-04:00

Friday April 9, 2010

Well I should be busy packing our suit cases, but (there is always a but) instead we are waiting for a phone call to say that Ethan’s passport has been printed. We have decided that Martin and Laura will stay here with Ethan and I, this after Laura said she would rather stay with her Mummy than leave her here on her own. To add insulate to injury I have now come down with a stomach bug so we are not able to go anywhere as I need to stay close to the bathroom. The sun is shining and it is warm out which is one good thing. Yesterday we did venture out to the KLM office to see about changing our flights, this was not the best of news either. If we have Ethan’s passport by Monday we could fly out on Tuesday night, we would have to spend the night in Amsterdam airport, there is a hotel in the airport as we cannot take Ethan into Holland without a visa, we then would fly to Canada on Wednesday, otherwise we cannot fly out till Friday April 16. This all hinges on getting Ethan’s Passport. So right now our spirits are very low, and longing for home. We like Ukraine but after almost 9 weeks it is time for our own bed.

So due to me we have been stuck in the apartment, Ethan has given us a laughs with his exploring of things, and Laura has been busy hanging laundry on her rope on the balcony.

One good thing is that spring has surely sprung; the flowers are blooming, the bugs are buzzing and the song birds are singing. There is a botanical garden near the apartment which is full of coal and blue tits (birds about the size of chickadees) and black birds (which are the size of North American robins) and of course the tiny English/European robin.

Stay tuned for the next update which I so hope is good news for us.

Love

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

I am not coming home

2010-04-07T06:32:00.001-04:00

It is with a heavy heart that I tell everyone that Ethan and I will not be coming home on Saturday as planned. Ethan's passport has not been printed yet and we do not know when it will be done. Martin and Laura will be returning on Saturday as planned.

Not sure if I am coming home

2010-04-06T15:41:00.000-04:00

Tuesday April 6, 2010

I sit here really not sure what to say, or where to begin. The last few days have been extremely hard for me, the weather has been rain all weekend so we were stuck in for most of the days, and this apartment is not really big enough for 4 people. Laura is really struggling with being here, and adjusting to having a new brother in such a small living place. Yesterday Martin took the children to the park and I had a little me time for the first time in 8 weeks. I joined them later to watch Ethan on the swing and it was a wonderful warm day out.

Today we went on a bigger adventure; we took the subway to Independence Square, Ethan was not sure what to make of the noise of the subway and started to cry, but when Martin told him train in Ukrainian he settled. It was a strange feeling to be back on the main street again this time with no snow in sight, the first thing we did was buy an ice cream from a stand that had been closed before, we then walked up to the square were there was a big Easter egg in a basket on the square, and the ice rink we had skated on was all gone. We went shopping at Mother Care and got Ethan an airplane that the pilot talks in an English accent I just could not resist it. Ethan is more interested in putting the people in his mouth. We then walked past our old apartment, through the park we had first gone to when arriving here, and then to St. Andrews decent to buy Laura her musical instrument called a Bandura, she was so excited to get this and her little hands were rubbing her nose very fast. We had planned to go back to the shopping mall called Dream Town, but it was too late and we decided to head back to the subway for home.

Ok now to the bad news, we got a phone call from our facilitator Natasha, she told us that Ethan’s passport has not been done and has not even been printed yet. We are not sure if it is going to be done by the weekend. On another note I called the Canadian Embassy here in Kiev and they have not yet received a letter from the Canadian Ministry called a Letter of no Objection and without these 2 things we cannot bring Ethan home. So we have plan B all ready to go and that is Martin and Laura will be flying home on Saturday no matter what. Laura as you all know needs to get home and really should get back to school, 2months away is too long, and Martin needs to get over jet lag so he can go back to work and keep this new family of his from going broke. LoL. I will then come home with Ethan once we have his paperwork. I am really hoping that plan B does not have to happen and we are all on the flight this Saturday. I will keep you posted.

Ethan is doing very well with his eating; every morning is oatmeal a whole package and he cries when he is done. Tonight I made Sheppard pie and he decided to try Martins which at first he started with the potatoes then he tried the meat and he liked it even with the lumps, so we are really happy about this. The little man seems to have a bottomless pit. For a skinny fella.
Nothing else to say at this time except “can everyone keep their fingers crossed for us. Please!”

Love to all

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan.

The Easter Weekend

2010-04-04T09:25:00.001-04:00

Saturday April 3, 2010

Ethan had his first bath today, there is no plug so we improvised by using the lid of the milk bottle and a face cloth to plug the drain, it worked. Ethan had a shower with me the other day but we were not sure how he would take to a bath full of H20. We had nothing to worry about he loved it, he started to splash at the water and we have a turtle that swims which he liked to play with. By the time we lifted him out he was a prune but a very clean one. We took a walk to the mall down the road as the rain was holding off, yep it was raining again. We needed pants for Ethan as we only have one pair that fits and the others I brought with us are too big. I picked up a pair for a 12 month old but they are too big also, so going to try to return them. With it being Easter we had to go get groceries so we don’t run out as everything is closed Sunday and Monday over here. Ethan struggled to go to sleep last night, but once asleep he slept the night. We are still not sure what time he wakes up as he does not make any noise to wake me and just lies there.
Otherwise we are just spending time as a family and playing.

Love

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

Sunday April 4, 2010

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE

Not much to report today, it started off rainy and now at 4pm the sun has come out. Ethan had a nap and while he was down Martin took Laura out to play with a plane we had got her. This was the first time in 8 weeks that I had been on my own, it was a very strange feeling. Now that Ethan is up Laura has gone for a nap, we really need them to do it together. LOL. We sent a letter to the Easter bunny asking if he could come next week when we get home for the kids, we are hoping it arrived in time.
Anyway that’s it for today, here’s hoping this is our last Sunday in Kiev.

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan.

Happy Good Friday

2010-04-02T17:31:00.000-04:00

Friday April 2, 2010

Ethan woke up in a happy mood again and we had some playtime in the bed. He is really starting to talk more baby talk or Ukrainian we are not sure and really feeling comfortable walking around and is now getting into things, so we really have to watch him. He discovered that he can shake the TV stand and we are having to tell him no to this, but he keeps coming back, and he has found the knobs on the stove but cannot turn them thank goodness. Laura did some vacuum and Ethan was there to help her, at one point he sat down on the floor and started running his hands on the floor like he was the vacuum. Laura is discovering what it means to have a little brother also, she is still leaving things in his reach and has a fit when he gets them, she has a little learning to do and so does Ethan, but we know this will all take time. It is funny to watch the 2 of them though.
We decided to go out for a walk today as the rain seemed to be holding off. It is great not having any snow and ice and the sidewalks are really much bigger. This adds up to more sidewalk parking for cars. Ethan is ok once he is going in the stroller although he sits there not moving the whole time. We walked through the botanical gardens park, we had taken Laura to this park when the snow was still here, this time the birds were singing away the flowers were coming out, and people were out for a walk, but it started to rain on us, yet again, we stuck it out, and carried on. We found a toy store that our friend Helen had shown us. We had hoped that the rain would let up but it did not so we headed for home which I think Ethan was pleased about.
Ethan is really finding his feet now and is getting into everything in the apartment and this evening he sure was being a little mischievous, by doing things and then turning and laughing when told no. We are sure seeing him get more relaxed with us as each day goes by.

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

Learning new things

2010-04-02T07:12:00.000-04:00

Thursday April 1, 2010

Ethan slept in till at 8:30am , he is going to bed very good for us and sleeping through the night, I am sleeping with him in the bed and Martin is on the pull out couch with Laura. He for some reason is afraid of the stroller even though he played with strollers at the orphanage. Whenever he see’s ours he starts to cry, so we spent a lot of time yesterday getting him used to it as we will really need him to sit in it at the airports. He is discovering that there is some good food out there, and is not being as picky as we thought as long as it does not have lumps in it. We are buying baby food for now as it just makes life easier, to make sure he is full we are taking bread and milk heated this is the only way right now he will take milk; He has not refused anything we have given him. He is also drinking apple juice and really likes it, but water he just does not like. Once home it will be much easier to make him food. It’s hard to believe he has not been with us 24 hours yet, but you can see him relaxing and really exploring things in the apartment. It has been a rainy day so we had not gone out, but we needed something in for supper, and Laura wanted to have some time with Daddy so I took Ethan with me to the store for his first walk, he cried as we got him ready as he knew he was going in the stroller, but once outside he stopped, until it stopped moving then he would cry again until we moved. By the time we got to the store he had settled and I was able to pick up the grocery’s we needed. Mother Nature was not good to us though as when we came out it was pouring down, and I had no choice but to push for home as quickly as I could. I took a shopping bag and placed it over Ethan’s legs in the hope to keep him a little dry. He did not cry till we got home and he saw Daddy and wanted out and that was it he let it all out. Poor little boy. He got over it and soon was playing. Again he went to bed without much of a fuss. Oh yes forgot to tell you he said his first English word “Up” we raise our hands up in the air saying up and he copies us.

Love to all

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

WE ARE NOW A FAMILY OF 4 AND BACK IN KIEV HORRAY

2010-04-01T15:58:00.003-04:00

Ok where to start, it has been a very very busy 3 days and now we are on day 4. There has been a lot of emotions going on, all in one day plus even more stress.

Monday March 29, 2010

Our day started a little early as Natasha our facilotary had come on the overnight train and arrived at the apartment at about 7am. Now I know for some of you this is not early but we did not get to bed till 1am as I was busy packing. We both woke up feeling excited and worried that the other shoe would drop at court. We got the bus for the last time, to go see Ethan. He was excited when we arrived and it was outside for a little play time. It was strange to think that in a few hours this little boy would be ours. We put Ethan down for his nap and left him for the last time. We walked from the orphanage up to the court house. We sat in the court room waiting for the judge to come in as our time was 4:00 but like most things they did not start in time, and Laura started to get bored. Just as the judge came in at around 4:20 Laura was getting into full noise mode, and Martin and I started promising her the world to keep her quiet, she was playing her DS but it was not helping too much. The judge then started to go through the paperwork and Natasha translated for us. Then they asked Martin to come in front of the judge and asked him some questions, like where he worked, year he was born, if he understood Ethan medical problems and if we would sooner adopt a perfectly healthy child....his response was we want to adopt Dmitro with a big smile. Then it was my turn, I was asked similar questions, but also did I have help to look after Laura, and would I be able to look after both children. Then they asked if we had anything to say and at this point Martin took the pictures of home up to the judge to show him. This was a really good moment, escpially when he saw Martin on his motor bike and asked him if he rode a sea doo as well, they then talked about fishing as well and the judge was asking what fish we get back home and added that the Dnipro river used to be full of salmon in the Zap city region and in typical Martin fashion he motioned to the judge that he and Martin go fishing then and there with a hardy laugh from the judge. Then the judge and 2 jurors left the room for no more than 1 min to make their decision, when the judge started to say our names and I knew that he was saying yes we could adopt Ethan well my flood gates opened and 7 weeks of stress started to come out. It truly was a great moment.
That evening we went out for supper and had pizza to celebrate.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

This was to be a very busy day more than I knew. It was up at 6:15am to be ready to leave at 7:30 by taxi, we went to the town were Ethan’s Bio mum was born to get his birth cert. (In Ukraine you are supposed to register your child’s birth in the city you were born in that is why even though Ethan was born in Zaperasha she registered him where she lived.) This made a nice change to see some country side and was surprised to see it flat like home. This took 40 mins to get the cert. It was then back in the car to the city to pick up some papers that Natasha had left at the apartment by 9:30. It was then to the main licensing office known as the wedding palace to drop paper work off, we first went to the wrong office so off to the correct one. They said we needed a photo copy of his birth cert. but I find it strange they did not have a copier, so it was off to find a copy place, then back to the building and they said the paper work would be done in an hour. We sat in the car all this time. It was now 10:25 and off to the police station down some very bumpy roads to change Ethan’s tax # this is like our social insurance # got there at 10:45. Sat in Car.
Left station at 10:50 and told to come back in thirty minutes. Went to pay taxes of some sort and then back to the wedding palace by 11:05 to pick the birth cert back up. Left the palace at 11:20 and back to the police station to pick up paper. I got to get out of the car this time and go in to sign the paper work. While in the office a song came on the radio called “I’m Blue” some of you may know it, but all I could think of was David and his version of that song.
11:45 on our way again for 5 mins drive to the Notary office, we all got out of the car this time which for Martin was the first time since 8:45. They had done a statement letter for the police station for the passport. (You go to the police station to get passports in Ukraine)
12:30 back in car and off to the lawyers across town, by this time we are all getting very tired and cramped in the car. 12:40 got to lawyers; Natasha went in again without us and came out with some good news. It turns out that the government gives all children when born money. Ethan’s money was in a bank account and there was over $1000 CDN. The director of the orphanage said she would write a letter up saying we had donated this money, but Natasha felt it was our decision as to what to do with it. We then went to the orphanage to pick up the paperwork so we could get the money from the bank. We then found out that there was over $2000 in his bank account. This put us in a bit of a struggle as we do not begrudge the orphanage to buy things for its up keep but this is also Ethan’s money. In the end we did donate some of it and the rest we will put away for Ethan.
It was then back to the main police station and this time we sat for a very long time in the car I fell asleep in the car as did Nicoli, our driver. At 3:30 Natasha then came out at to say that we had just over an hour to get back get Ethan and be back at the police station so we could get the passport picture done otherwise we could not get the train that night. So it was to the grocery store to buy diapers/nappies for his room, 2 bottles of champagne for the workers and the director, and some water for us as we still have not had lunch. Then it was to the orphanage to pick up our little boy. It has to be the fastest pick up ever. In we went they washed him down, I got him dressed in the mean time Martin took pictures of the room with the cribs and Natasha videoed me getting Ethan dressed. It was a very quick good bye with a picture of the workers before we left. Then over to the director’s office, but she was busy so we left the champagne with the secretary and we were on our way again back to the police station. We got his picture taken which like most children was fun getting him to look were we wanted him too. It was then a big dash back to the apartment pack the last few things, no time for a cup of tea which I so much wanted to have, then across town to the train station to buy our tickets in an extremely packed car. Natasha was to leave us at this time as it meant she could take a train straight home to her city to be with her family, but before that she came to the grocery store to help us get food seeing as none of us had eaten all day, then over to the train were she helped us get settled on the train and then we said our good bye’s to a women who became super women to get this all done in 1 day. We will be forever grateful to her for all she has done for us, she is truly amazing. Just a little note she is a mother of a 4 year old little boy and during this day her husband was home very sick, she had a great understanding of Laura and her difficulty and took it all in stride and understood why we wanted to get back to Kiev.
Now it was just the 4 of us, and oh what a feeling. We all had some food and then it was time to get the children down for a sleep. This went very well and Ethan was asleep in 20 mins with no tears. Martin and I enjoyed looking at the children sleeping and looking out the window. It was then time for us to go to sleep well sort of, I slept with Ethan on a very narrow bench and a couple of times when the train stopped I almost ended up on the floor. Ethan woke up at 4 am and that was it he was up till we got into Kiev at 5:45am. Martin said that he didn’t get any because of the rattling of his cabin.. we paid for two cabins and Martin had to sleep with the luggage. We were picked up and driven to the same apartment we had left, but neither child was ready to go to sleep.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Martin took a walk to the grocery store to get us food, and then we had a very quiet day with me and Ethan taking a nap Laura never did take a nap. Ethan was getting used to his surroundings and us. He is doing well at taking new foods, but we are feeding him baby food still as he does not like lumps just like Laura did not. He went to bed really good for us. We really did nothing else as we were all just too tired to do anything.
Well this has taken me a very long time to type and I really should spend some time with my family.

Love to you all

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and now with us Ethan

2010-03-28T10:03:00.002-04:00

Jennys new pit bike, Ethan will fit in the basket

Laura will be on the back

View of the city

Inside the bike store

The sign of the bike store

more pictures and 3days worth of things to say

2010-03-28T09:15:00.004-04:00

Friday March 26, 2010
Spent play time at home with Laura in the morning then on to the bus for the usual bus ride, you know you have been somewhere too long when your daughter can tell how much further it is on the bus to our stop. Now seeing as I am typing this on Saturday evening (knew I should have typed it last night) and my memory is failing me on what else we did yesterday, Martin is also struggling to remember, we are getting so tired from our days and the stress of it all. Laura sometimes starts to fall asleep on the bus ride home.
We have one nurse who Martin and I have noticed that she has a tendency to mutter to herself. Well she is the one who got Ethan ready for us today, and like normal he was in full snow suit but she then pulled the hood up over the hat, and proceeded to put a big scarf around his whole face so that only his eyes showed. Now you have to keep in mind that is was 13’C and we had been walking without our coats on. Martin and I passed glances at each other and both thought what is this crazy women doing, and that scarf is coming off. Just as we were about to walk out of the room with him 3 other of the workers walked out and saw Ethan bundled up to the hilts, and proceeded to tell the women something and removed the scarf and pulled the hood back. We were so glad when they did this. He is really starting to love his time outside now and is eager to get out the door. He really does like the spinning thing and is really starting to enjoy the slide. They have some trucks made of steel for climbing on and we thought he would like the steering wheel as it moved; he liked it so much that he tried to chew it. I tell you everything goes in his mouth. Benjamin and Ethan will get along really well. Before we knew it our time was up and it was time to go inside. Then it was yogurt time which he really does enjoy, we just have to show him the container and we have his complete attention and he gobbles it all up. When he sees Laura with hers he is right there hoping she will share which she does and feeds him it herself. It was then playtime; our biggest problem is keeping him away from the strollers that are in the room and wanting to play with the wheels. Whenever we stop him from doing something we a get a bit of a cry which is not very loud and then he puts 4 fingers in to his mouth. When it was time for him to go to bed I asked if I could lay him down again and they let me. I am hoping by doing this he will find it normal for us to do it when he is home with us.
We decided to eat out at the internet restaurant tonight and be able to update the blog and be able to talk to the family. We have had some trouble with MSN but last night we were able to get video link with mum and after this length of time it was great to see some familiar faces. This is one thing we will be so glad about getting back to Kiev so we can have internet in the apartment again.
That was the end of our day, we are counting the days down to Monday, 3 more sleeps.
Love
US

Saturday March 27, 2010
Get the presses going we have seen our first Motor Bikes, they do have them here even with the potholes. We saw a Honda, Harley and lots of scooters and some we did not see the make of. Eric would be pleased as Martin saw an Ural too he informs me.
We decided to go see Ethan a little later today so as to give Laura sometime at the apartment. Through all this she has been a real trooper but has had a lot of struggles as well, in Kiev it was the snow and ice on the sidewalks that would cause her to meltdown or just the cold, she referred to it as “We are going out to the Ice Box again”. The crowded streets were a problem with her telling people to get out of her way. Everybody’s shoes or should I say 4” heels were Crap as she put it. A word I truly wish would go away. All the walking was an issue and she wanted to bring our van over on a Hercules airplane so she did not have to walk anymore. Laura being Laura she noticed the litter on the streets and would say in the middle of a crowd that this is a dirty country. Now here in Zaperasha she really does not like the bus trip as they get very crowded at times and if you are at the back and have to push pass the people standing she gets worried that we will miss our stop or she will get left on the bus, even though we always make sure she is in the middle of us, and starts to meltdown on the bus. Mind you I feel like melting down too with all the crowds on the bus. It really is a good job that most people in Ukraine are on the thin side and you better not be too worried about rubbing up against anyone as you get off the bus. Even though it has warmed up Laura still thinks it is cold out and I have had to hide her winter boots so she will wear shoes. Although she loves her new brother she really would like to just stay home which I have done with her. Oh yes and she really hates having to go grocery shopping or any kind of shopping for that matter even in a toy store, but she does not like this at home either. On the flip side, we have managed to get her to go and do the things we have needed her to, and when she had to be quiet (because believe me she does not stop talking from the time she gets up to going to bed) she has been. We have tried to take her places and make this whole trip fun but for any 7 year old this is just too much. I do know one thing, we are very, very proud of her and know that most Autistic children could not do this, and I am sure as she grows she will be able to do all things she wants with a little pushing J Her days as an only child are almost done, so we are making the most of still being a family of 3 when away from the orphanage.
Ok back to our day now. It was off outside again for 45 mins, Ethan is very interested in twigs on the ground and even tries to pull out things that are attached to the ground. You can see that he struggles with the sun when it gets too close to his eyes and he gets a little upset about it, but we figure he has not seen the sun much. He really likes to just wander around looking at things and when he finds something he plops himself down. The time with him went by really fast as we got there at 1:15 instead of 12:30. Play time was good and Martin took him through to lay him down for his nap. He went down without a bother and with a big smile on his face. One helper gestured to Martin with a “well done Dad”. When they bring his food out they always give Laura a bun which is filled with apple butter and a tea which Martin drinks as it has no milk or sugar in for Laura’s liking. We had seen another play park on our bus route and decided to get off today so Laura could have a play, this made her very happy. When we were done we decided to walk back to the apartment which is about a 3 or 4 mile walk. We found a toy store on route and got Laura a plane that flies around her head attached to the controller, then a stop off at the grocery store as we are now living day by day as we don’t want to have to pack the food back to Kiev. It was a lovely walk in the sun and when home Laura got to try her new toy out which she was so excited about. Martin seems to have a bit of a tummy bug right now and I am hoping for him it goes away and that we don’t get it to.

Love to all
Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

Sunday March 28, 2010
We are so lucking out with the weather it is another sunny day. Yesterday I told Martin I think my dad is sending us this nice sunshine. Martin is still fighting the tummy bug and I have been busy getting laundry done along with packing. Nothing I dislike more than rushing at the end to get packed, so even though we still have 2 days here I want to get most of it done. We watched some of the F1 race from Australia but if I type the winner Robert would so have my head when I got home, but it is enough just to know I have seen it before him J . You may be miles away Rob but I can still get my digs in.
We are not sure if we are going to go see Ethan today we would like to go a walk around the market they have in the downtown area at some point.
..............................
Well we decided to not go to Ethan as this is his last day with all his friends. We went a walk around the market and saw some strange sites, interesting things and some downright gross things. We have found where to buy motor bikes/scooters (for under $500 CDN), baby chickens, baby rabbits. We cannot for the life of us figure out how people make a living as there are stalls after stalls after stalls after stalls after stalls well you get the point of things for sale. We walked further this time than last and it goes for well over 2 miles up the hill. I have enclosed some pictures to go with this. So we are now back at the internet cafe for some drinks and hopefully talk to the family.
One more sleep till court and 13 days till we come home.
Love
Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

bikes for sale

bike store

part of the market

Chickens for sale

more of the market

New Storage unit for the DOCC

local park

on the spinny thing at the orphange

local place to buy fresh fish

selling the fish

playing in the truck

Great news

2010-03-26T11:00:00.000-04:00

Thursday March 25, 2010

The day started off very stressful as have the rest of the week, with not knowing about court. What you need to understand is that in some regions people can wait for court for weeks and we were very concerned that this would happen to us, also our plane tickets were scheduled for tomorrow and we have to rebook our flights which cost us to do, so we only want to do this once. The court issue for us is that they decided at the beginning of the year that they have to have 2 jurors present to have court and they did not have anyone in place to do this. Talk about stress knowing that we will only be in court 15 -20 mins and we need 2 people to be there and this is what is holding us up. They had shut court down until they could get people in place to do this. OK there is more to tell but we finally received the call from Natasha:
WE HAVE COURT ON MONDAY AT 4PM
As you can tell we are excited about this, as once we have court we can get Ethan out of the orphanage and back to Kyiv. Now back to the morning, I phoned KLM to rebook the flights and they said I had till 5:30 to do so, as I wanted to wait till I found out if we would get court. Then it was off to see Ethan, but first we had to return a pair of shoes we had got for him that where too small. This became an adventure in itself. First getting them to understand that I wanted to return them, but did not want another pair, so with some hand signals I got my point across. Then the paper work that she had to fill out was long and involved me having to show my passport and her trying to read English for the information. After 20mins of waiting I finally got my money back. Girls at work we have nothing to complain about when it comes to returns.
Yet again we got to take Ethan outside this really helps to break the day, and he seems really excited about going out even though he is bundled up like Randy off of a Christmas Story or the Michelin man for those who don’t know the movie. Then it was time for yogurt once inside with a new flavour and this went over well again. I got out the favourite thing bubbles which he really enjoys popping them. I said to Martin how I would like to go blow bubbles for the children in his room, and got up the nerve to ask the workers, and to my surprise they agreed. Talk about bring tears and smile to my face when the children saw those bubbles in the air, they got so excited and the squeals of delight were wonderful. I did this for at least 20 minutes, until I felt light headed from doing it so much, but it was so worth the joy these children got from it. Laura, Martin and Ethan came in to join me, and Laura really had her eyes opened to what it means to be a child in an orphanage with only 2 rooms to live in, one for playing and eating and the other for sleeping along with everyone else. We then went back to the cloak room for a little more family time; it was then time for Ethan to eat. Seeing as I had seen the room he plays in I wanted to now see where he slept, so when our time was done I asked if I could lay him down. This is all done with hand gestures keep in mind. They again agreed and I laid him down in his crib. The worker then pointed out the rail on the crib and it had chew marks on it, she informed me that my son had done this. We are talking big chunks like you would see on a corn on the cob. It is wood and he has just chewed it away. We were completely shocked at this. It was then time for home.
I then contacted KLM again seeing as now we know when court is and rebooked our flights Drum roll please........for April 10. So the stress now changes from worrying about court date to will the paperwork and passport be done in time, but for now we are just happy to have court and the thought that our son will soon be with us, and we then can get back to Kiev were there are things and places to go. Please everyone keep all fingers and toes crossed for us.
Love to all

Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

Wednesday fun in the sun

2010-03-26T10:59:00.000-04:00

Wednesday March 24, 2010
The weather sure seems to be on our side as the sun was shining again today and it was warm even though the buildings are grey and the ground is dirt and no leaves on the trees, the sun makes everything look better.
On our usual bus route we were shocked to see city workers out filling the pot holes, and the one road that is like a slalom track has had a lot of the holes filled in making for a little less bumpy ride. There are also workers out cleaning up broken tree branches, litter and leaves from around the apartment buildings.
We again got to take Ethan outside to enjoy the sun, he seemed to like the slide today, and when placed at the top would push with his feet to go down and lean forward. There was also a roundabout that you sit on, so Martin was brave and took the risk of being sick to spin around on it with Ethan. My husband’s age is starting to show. This Ethan really loved, and so we now have 2 children who like to spin around and around. Then it was inside for some more play time. We had decided to try him with a yogurt today to see if we could find something he liked to eat, as we are sure that he is going to be our picky eater. We gave him the first mouthful, ready for it to come straight back out again, but he got a great big smile on his face his little legs started to shake and he leaned in for some more, he gobbled it all up. We are very excited that we have found something he likes.
After our visit and before catching the bus we walked over to a park we had seen near the social worker office for some play time with Laura. It is a very big area but all the paths are dirt not paved, but all in all it was a very nice green area with climbing structures, swings and other things.
It was then home for some picture taking of the area of our apartment before we don’t have any. We then found another park for Laura with some very old swings. Laura thought this was a good day.
One thing we do notice is people drink where ever they choose too even on the buses, and parks are no exceptions, so there are broken bottles even in the park along with litter. Some do use the litter bins but a lot do not.
OH and Robert you really would hate to see the schedule Euro sport has lined up for the month of April.
Love to all
Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan

Monday and Tuesday

2010-03-26T10:55:00.000-04:00

Monday, March 22 2010
After some thought on yesterday, there was something I forgot to mention. When we first arrived at the orphanage, the door we enter in to the cloak room was not locked so we walked in, then the door into where the children are was also open a jar. There standing in an old baby walker was Ethan, and next to him was a stroller of which he was checking out the straps and then proceeding to chew on them. We all stood watching him for about a minute, when he looked up and saw us, a big smile came across his face and then with all his might he tried to climb out of the chair in excitement. We then heard a worker go Dimi Dimi thinking he was trying to get out when she saw us and realized what his excitement was for. The rest of our visit was spent playing with the usual toys.
After our visit we went to the internet cafe and then met up with our new friends from the USA and went out for some supper at a place called “Sir Lancelot” we had some good pizza and an even better chat. Their usual taxi driver drove us home instead of us having to endure the bus ride home. He took us a different way we had not been before and even though it was dark we could see that there are a lot of houses also here in the city. I would like to show you a picture but this is hard when in the back of a car to get a good one, as they are nothing like houses back home. They are much smaller, although we have seen some new buildings that are 2 stories and look more like a house in England.
Tuesday March 23, 2010
We sure have problems when it comes to water in this country. We woke and Martin had a shower... you think ok this is a normal thing, but later Laura goes to wash her hands and informs us there is no hot water, I at first thought that she had the tap turned the wrong way, but upon checking she was right and in the bathroom were it is a separate tap for hot there was no water coming out at all, same in the kitchen. We contacted Natasha who looked into for us only to find out it was a city wide problem. By the time we got home tonight it was sorted.
It was another sunny day mixed with some clouds and a high of 11C. It was our usual bus trip to the orphanage, and once there we asked if we could take Ethan outside for a play (Our US friends had been allowed to with their son) and they agreed but for only Half an hour. We made the most of this and took him over to the play area, all bundled up in snow pants, coat and hat. We set him on the slide and he did not seem to know what to make of this, we tried a few more times and although he did not get upset he was not showing any excitement about it either. We then allowed him to walk all around and he was checking everything out sticks, plants etc. Robin, Jim, Logan and their new son Zach came out for a play as well and it was nice to spend some time outside and not cooped up inside. The rest of our visit was spent inside again playing with the usual toys.
We then shared a cab ride back to the hotel of Jim and Robin where I was able to download the videos you have seen in the other post easier than at the cafe. We were also able to visit with Nancy, another from the US who is adopting from the same orphanage and who is in the same hotel. Then it was back on the bus and back to the apartment/home. It was a little crowded and standing room only but we had managed to get a seat and this is much easier with Laura. We took a different bus route and saw a “cosmic bowling alley”
Right now I am watching the world figure skating from Italy even though I don’t understand the commentaries’.
More shows translated
Dr. Who
And Ukrainian version of
Married with children
Everybody loves Raymond

Well that is all for now. It is still great receiving your emails, it is hard to respond due to time at the cafe but please keep sending them we love to get mail from home.

Love to all
Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan.
XXXXXXXXXXXX

More Pictures some of the orphange

2010-03-23T11:11:00.001-04:00

2010-03-23T11:02:00.002-04:00

video

2010-03-23T10:55:00.002-04:00

Our Weekend

2010-03-22T10:31:00.000-04:00

Saturday, March 20, 2010
It was a beautiful sunny day today and warm as well, this is such a welcome relief and hoping that it continues. We have woken up some mornings to a sprinkle of snow but with the sun out. Today Martin and I decided that Laura needed to have a day at home so I stayed home and Martin took the bus to see Ethan. I got the laundry done, some sorting out of our bedroom and played with Laura. After lunch Laura and I went for a walk around a small market, but it was mostly fruit and veg. then to a clothing store I had seen to see if we could get a coat for Ethan, but with no luck, then to the grocery store to pick up a few things. We decided that it was so nice out we would drop the groceries off at the apartment and take a walk. There were many people out and about, more than you would see back home, this area is all high rise apartments built back in the soviet time there are no houses in this area of town. We saw children out playing football (soccer) and one thing I don’t like to see but children playing with toy guns. I saw what I think is a school, and we found a swing for Laura to go on. On our way back we saw a pack of stray dogs which unnerved Laura and me also but I managed to keep Laura walking and most of the time the dogs have nothing to do with you. It is so insightful to see how Ukrainians live and the difference between home. It is very hard to put into words the sights you see here. The area in front of the apartment is dirt and behind us which was a play ground now there is just the bars left where swings once were is also dirt. From the back window we could see a bunch of men at a table we think they may have been playing chess or checkers but could not see, all in their coats rather than at some ones apartment. The sidewalks, in sections, the pavement is gone and it is also dirt or there are potholes also, but to the people of this area this is their home, city, country and for them it is just how it is and is better than under Russian rule even though this area is still very much pro Russia. Everyone is well dressed and no one bothers anyone children laughing and playing and baby’s being pushed in prams. No matter what the weather everyone is out walking as only a few have cars although they are newer cars like Mazda 3, Renault, and Nissan etc. And of course you cannot forget the old Lada’s and even newer ones. The bus is the main form of transportation and is very busy. That was my day of people watching and a little insight through my eyes.
TTFN Jenny.

Right, now for a little something from us boys and our play date. First of all when I arrived at COHeyka (pronounced Sohnechka) orphanage I was able to tell the care givers that is was just me today and that “meh dohchkah Laura STOHMlehnihy” which means “my daughter Laura was tired.” And that mumma had stayed with her. Yes I’m picking up some of the language up....but not near enough of it. After getting settled in the play/locker room and waiting for my little man to enter once his diaper was put on, one of the care givers opened the door whilst I was standing right near and handed him to me. She then motioned to me with a big smile to give him back to her and go to the other end of the room and squat down. With absolute delight she said to him go to poppa and he walked over to me with his arms up and a smile on his adorable little face. If that doesn’t make a grown man want to cry nothing will. I then thought ok I can’t spend the next 3 hours hugging my son...well yes I could but I don’t think that he’d go for that considering how much he is on the go all the time. We played with the usual toys that we had bought here and the ones that we had brought with us from home: See and say farm animal pull and spin which sings 2 songs and makes numerous animal noises which he is getting really good with pulling the lever, soft puffy books that we try to get him to point to the different pictures but he is more interested in the ribbed spine which makes a really cool sound when you run your finger nail along it...of course...and the toy excavator and truck. One of the biggest hits is the bubbles. He loves to watch and pop them and also puckers up his lips as though to blow them himself. Not to mention the cute little nose getting scrunched up as he does so.
After playing until 3 o’clock it was snack time and I was given a cup of tea and a bun with filling for him. He took the tea as so did my pants take some of it..but the bun he had no interest. After a futile attempt at that, one motherly caregiver came to my rescue with a mixture of tea, bun and steamed apple pureed. Even with that he still was not keen on some of the bits in it and gave her a little grief but she was more persuasive with their lack of language barrier. At one point though Ethan had both of us laughing as when she told him no, no, no Dima and wagging her finger lightly at him he returned it by doing and saying the same. She then laughed with a co-worker and said what I interpreted as Dima giving poppa a hard time. Half an hour later it was time for the little man to have his nap and we said our so long for now and gave kisses.....sigh....hopefully not long and we will be able to walk out with him.
Well that is all from both of us today

All take care
Martin, Jenny, Laura and Ethan

Sunday March 21, 2010
Well what a gorgeous day it has been, with a high of 14C we did not need hats or gloves for the first time and there was no wind either like yesterday. On Friday at the internet cafe we met Robin and Jim and their son Logan who are from Chicago and are adopting a little boy also 2 from the same orphanage and Nancy who is from Florida who is adopting a 6 year old little girl who has club feet. They are staying in the hotel in town and told us that on Sundays there is a market held just up from them. This morning we decided that we would check it out before going to see Ethan. It was huge and everything you can think of was being sold there. Clothes for all the family, toys, meat, fish all out in the open and not refrigerated, veg., fruit, seeds, nuts, spices. There was even a whole stall dedicated to chocolate. I think every person in the city was out there today. We did find a nice spring coat for Ethan that comes with splash pants and long sleeve shirt. It was then on to the bus again, this after watching the buses honking their horns at each other and at cars for about 5 mins. All Martin and I could do is laugh at it all. Our laughter continued once on our bus as the song playing was Bryans Adams, All for Love. The sun was shining the driver had the window open and we understood the music on the bus, we felt so at home in some strange way. The walk from the bus stop down was so nice and we hoped that maybe they would suggest we take Ethan outside to play, this was not offered to us but we will ask tomorrow if it is nice again. (The other couple were allowed to take their son outside) Now when they bring Ethan to us they walk him to the door and he walks over to us and they close the door behind him. He seems so happy to see us. He was once again fascinated by Laura’s DS and the music that it plays and kept grabbing for it, Laura was not impressed with this but eventually we got his attention to something else. It was again the usual games we played and a new spinning top that we had picked up at the market. His laugh is so endearing and reminds me a little of Laura’s laugh when we first met.
At the end of our visit we ran into Robin and Jim our new American friends and have arranged to go out for supper tomorrow night with them. Then as we were walking out of the grounds we passed another couple who said hello, we immediately asked if they too were adopting which they are and they hale from Israel, they told us that there was another American couple also at the orphanage from Georgia. Just when you think that you are the only ones you find out there are many more.
We arrived at our bus to see that we had the same driver as the trip in and once again listened to music we could understand. We got off at the big super market to get some supplies and got ourselves an ice cream cone each to eat on the walk home (mind you home is still a million miles away) but these small things make it feel just a little better.
It was home for supper and bed for Laura and television viewing for Martin and I “Foyles War” an English show. On this note here are some shows we have seen from home but are translated so we cannot understand them.
Yes Minister
Hannah Montana
Winnie the pooh
Flintstones
Criminal Minds
House
Ukrainian version of shows from home:
America’s got Talent
America’s next superstar
TV stations from home:
Animal Planet
National Geographics
Euro sports – we could watch the world champion curling from home if I was interested in curling.
MTV – sometimes we get English songs
It makes for some interesting viewing some nights.
Anyway it is now late and the dishes still have to be done and seeing as we can only get a dribble out of the tap for hot water I have to boil the water on the stove.
Good night to all
Love
Jenny, Martin, Laura and Ethan
XXXXXXXXXXX
Elsye we saw the great dane today.

No court date yet

2010-03-19T11:31:00.004-04:00

Wednesday, March 17 2010

Happy St. Patrick’s Day but there was no green over here.

Today was a day for shopping for Ethan before Natasha left for Kiev. We picked up some shoes, which turned out to be too big, spoons, bibs, toy, bottle etc. We then got a call from the lawyer to come and sign the papers for court. We were picked up by a taxi and driven across town; the one thing I noticed was that there are some houses in the city, not like you would see at home, although it does look like there are some new houses of brick. Some of them still have asbestos rooves. Once at the lawyers we saw another clothing store and were able to pick up a new outfit for Ethan before going into the lawyers office. We read over the paper or should I say Natasha translated the papers for us, we then signed them. So we are set for court and just have to wait for the date. It was then to the court house for Natasha to drop and register the papers. We found out that the court house is just down the road from the orphanage in walking distance, I am sure when court is done we will run down the street to get Ethan. It was then off to see Dmitro for a short visit but none the less a good one. We again got to feed him and they put his drink in the bottle we had got for him to try and he did well with it. I should explain that he can drink out of a cup, but when travelling we would like him to have a sippy cup. We tried him with the one we had brought with us but he could not do it. So for now we are going back to a bottle to get us home.
It was then back to the apartment to say goodbye to Natasha as she would be on the overnight train back to Kiev. After dropping Natasha off at the train station via taxi we then went to the internet cafe/restaurant for a bite to eat and to catch up on the web. The food that we had was traditional Ukrainian cuisine and very well met the needs of our pallets. And at this time we would also like to thank all that have emailed us for that brings us a little closer to home and appreciate all the congratulations.....he is adorable isn’t he!

Thursday March 18, 2010

It was our first day on our own, and we survived, we caught the bus no problems and it was a tame ride. Once at the orphanage they got Dmitro ready for us and he came in smiling. It was a just a day of playing with all the different toys we have, he got very excited when the bubbles came out again, Laura got her real first taste of her brother wanting what she had, namely her paper she was drawing on, every chance he had he would try to grab for it. We again got to feed him and he really does very well. It was then home a little school work for Laura and supper. Our day is about 5 hours long from the time we leave the apartment to getting back.

Well that’s about it for this time, we are hoping to hear on Friday when our court date is and we will let you know when that happens.

Take care

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and Ethan.

Friday March 19, 2010

Not much to tell today, my cold is a pain in the butt I am going through tissues like no tomorrow I really wish it would go away and I could enjoy myself more and not feel so tired. We saw Ethan today and he seemed a little tired as well. He likes to play with the strollers that are in the room with us, by checking out all the wheels, harness ect. we are sure he will be right at home with Daddy and his Uncles on the bikes. Bubbles are still a big hit with him, and he is a real go getter likes to be moving all the time, should be an eventful plane ride home. Laura was also tired today and layed down for a nap during our visit.

We have not heard about our court date but our still hoping for next week.

some pictures from today

Pictures

2010-03-17T12:41:00.007-04:00

First Family picture

Playing with bubbles

playing with his new truck, he loves to watch the wheels spin

Some local vehicles

this is the area we get to play in, they set the blanket down each time we arrive

these are the cupboards to hold the childrens coats. Ethan's is #12

More Great News

2010-03-17T12:36:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone,
I am sure you are all wondering how we are doing. It is hard to put into words what we are feeling and experiencing but I will do my best to put it out there.
Dmitri is doing well. He has been moved from the hospital area back to his own group even though he still has a cough and I can hear it on his chest. We are hoping that he keeps getting better. We have to wear masks when visiting him, as Laura is still fighting her cold and they hear her coughing, and now I have come down with a cold also.
We are allowed to visit him 3 times a day if we choose, 8:30 -9:30am, 12:30-3:30pm and 6:30-7:30pm. This is very generous as you all know we only got to visit Laura once a day for less than 2 hours. We have decided though that the afternoon visit will be the best for Laura, as trying to get up, out and there for 8:30am is too much for her. Also, the evening visit is to close to her bedtime. Martin is going to try to make it to the evening visit, so that at least one of us is there a second time each day.
I will tell you more about how we get there in a bit.
Dmitri does talk but not a whole lot and they say he has a speech delay, but we are noticing that he is strong willed and knows what he wants. We have seen that he really enjoys music, as we brought a toy that plays 'Old McDonald Had a Farm' and he dances or bounces on our knee when it is on. The same toy makes animal sounds and he really likes this too. We also went and bought a toy truck and motor bike (surprise, surprise) which he tries to chew.
He likes Martin lifting him up in the air and he giggles when he comes down. Now that he is feeling better he does not want to be held as much, and he does seem to want to go back to the room were the other children are. We are playing with him in the area where they have coat closets for the kids and workers so it is not the most ideal place and he knows children are on the other side.
He does seem to like being held, hugged and sung to which pleases me very much. We have discovered that even though he is small he is quite strong and when he wants down he pushes away from you with force. His walking is not very steady yet, but he did not start walking until just before his second birthday.
We have found out he was born at 12:10pm at Hospital #3 here in the city. This is good for us that he was born here, as it means we don’t have to travel to another city to get his Birth Certificate. His full birth name is Dmitri Gregorevech Demyanenko (Robert get your tongue around that name).
We have not been able to spend a lot of time with him as there have been other things to do or the doctor wanted us to leave so Dmitri could get his rest. Today, Tuesday we are hoping to spend the full 3 hours with him.
Yesterday we went to the Notary Office to get papers notarized, then to the social worker of the region to drop the papers off (she then gets things prepared for us). We got to see Dmitri for about 5 minutes in the afternoon. We went back in the evening to see him.
Today Natasha has gone to the orphanage without us to get paperwork photocopied. We are waiting for the social worker to call to say the paperwork is completed and then to see a lawyer to help us with what we need for court. We are really hoping court will be next week then we can start our 10 day waiting period. If all this happens today then Natasha will be on the train tonight back to Kiev to submit the papers to the SDA. Fingers crossed at this point.
Now that I have filled you in on our son and the procedures, here is a little about us and our life in Zaperasaya.
We are staying in a 2 bedroom ground floor apartment. They don’t have beds, but pull out couches which are closer to the floor than I would like. Laura is sleeping on a camp bed and she is ok with this as she is in the same room as us. Natasha is staying with us, so she has the other room. The living room is ok, the walls are white with no pictures, there are 2 chairs and the couch is another camp bed with cushions along the wall (don’t ask as this does not make sense to us either). The kitchen is a good size but we have no oven in this kitchen. The other one is much smaller but has the oven, yes that's right, we have 2 kitchens. One last thing, the bathtub is so high up that we have to pick up Laura to get her in and then she is up to Martins shoulders. We yet again had water problems, the sewage was backed up this time and they had to come in and fix it. This apartment is much better than our first place. The apartment is in an area of a lot of buildings all built in the Soviet era. They are very run down on the outside and in the stairwells but the insides have been done up and some people are even putting in new windows. This part of Ukraine is very much more Russian and they all speak Russian not Ukrainian. It is very interesting (this is my new favorite word) watching TV as, if it is a Russian show they have subtitles in Ukrainian and if its Ukrainian show ... you got it, the subtitles are in Russian. It would be like us having subtitles for a show from England as they (Ukraine, Russia) have very similar languages. Then you have commercials for products that are the same as at home (I just watched the Gillette Fusion Shaving cream add). Today we walked out and there was a car with Sensodyne written on the side of it (there is a pharmacy just across from the apartment) and the commercial for this is the same dentist talking about sensitive teeth just in Ukrainian.
To get to the orphanage we are taking the bus which is more like a large mini bus (think of Robert Q) made by Mercedes so we are traveling in style...NOT... in one, the seat itself was not attached to the frame, they have little curtains along the top of the windows and in others the seats have tears in them. The good thing is that it is cheap, 0.25 cents each. It takes us about 30 mins to get there depending on the driver. What I mean by that is that you might get a driver who is doing the Formula 1 race or a driver who is out for a Sunday drive. If we get the latter it can take 40 mins if you get the first driver it is 25 mins and a heart attack.
One experience had us all shaking at the knees when we got off. Right from the start we shot off like a rocket, at the first turn we all went sideways out of our seats, we knew then this was going to be a ride. We picked up more passengers to the point that they were standing in the aisle. Now picture having a street on the moon, craters everywhere not just potholes, the driver is weaving and dodging trying to miss every hole at break neck speeds. The passengers are being thrown to and fro. Even those sitting down. This really does not even begin to describe the trip but at one point Natasha and I were laughing so hard that we were crying. Just when we thought it could not get worse, going around one set of bends I was sure that the whole bus was going on its side. Not to mention the near swapping of paint with several cars and nearly ending up in someones trunk (I don’t think you could have got a piece of paper between the 2 vehicles). Needless to say we were all scared including Martin and we now will not get on the bus if this man is driving.
Things that we do miss from home:
- To turn the tap on and be able to drink the water.
- Being able to understand conversations. Even between strangers.
- Being able to stand in a bathtub that is not as narrow as a trough, and a shower that is on the wall.
- Having good pans
- Having sharp knives and cutlery for everyone
- A bed that is comfortable and not on the ground
- A double sink and drain tray
Some of these may sound crazy to you but believe me I will be glad to get back to them.

Tuesday March 16, 2010
Today we had a wonderful visit with Dmitro. We went for the afternoon and spent 3 full hours with him. The caregivers got him ready and he walked in the room to us and came straight to me, they then set out a very big blanket on the ground so we could sit and play with him. We got the bubbles out and Dmitro thought these were wonderful, he was laughing and giggling and popping them, this was great to do with Laura as she loves bubbles as well and was able to join in the fun with her brother. Then it was time for some fun with Daddy being thrown up in the air and rolling around on the blanket using Daddy as a jungle gym. It was then my turn and he sat in my lap while I made the wheel on his truck spin and he felt it going around and stopping it for me to just make it turn again. It is so nice to see him warming up to us and allowing us to cuddle and sing to him. We also placed him in a stroller that is in the room to see how he reacted and it went fine. The biggest surprise came near the end, we had been watching the clock knowing that kicking out time was coming, but all of a sudden one of the workers came in with a little chair and table attached to it and indicated that we could feed Dmitro. This made me so happy that they would let me do this. They brought out 2 little cups one filled with something that looked like cream of wheat and the other with what we are told is tea but sure did not look like tea to me. Dmitro immediately put his hands in the first dish so we had to clean his hand up, I then fed him and he did really well. He drank some of the dirty looking drink from the cup but I had to hold it. We were also given bread with a filling and this tea for Laura to have they then got one for Martin and me. Martin tried the drink but decided that it was not to his liking. I took some of the filling from the bread for Dmitro but he did not like it and spit it out. Martin and I think we will have a picky eater on our hands. For Martin and I this was such a great thing compared to when we visited Laura in Bulgaria. The whole visit was wonderful.
While we were visiting, Natasha was out at the social workers office and got the paper work from the social worker saying that we will be good parents, even though she has only met us twice this is called the conclusion, she then went to a lawyer who will help us with court and be there at the court date. Natasha will head back to Kiev tomorrow night with all the paper work to take to the SDA so that we can be given a court date. We are hoping this will be next Wednesday or Thursday. Natasha will return then to go to court with us. So things are moving along well and we hope it continues this way.
Well now that I have written my novel for you all to read I think it is time to put the computer away. We will keep you all updated as much as we can.

Love to you all

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and Dmitro (Ethan)

One last thing, the other day Natasha taught us how to make a Ukrainian dish called Borsch, it is like a soup with cabbage, beet, potatoes, carrots and more. This is one dish I plan to make when home.
Natasha has been wonderful and has made this part of the journey so much easier. Not sure what we will do without her when she leaves.

Meet Ethan

2010-03-14T07:50:00.006-04:00

Meet the newest Member of our family

Hello everyone, thank you to everyone who is sending emails of support, they are wonderful to receive and hear from folks.
Well as Paul told you we are now in Zaporizhzhia, it is very different from Kiev, much more working class. We are in an apartment on the edge of town which is ok but we are back to having a lack of cutlery and cooking utensils. We have zero English speaking TV stations, although we did watch the Ukraine version of America’s got talent and you don’t need to understand to watch. Our facilitator is staying with us until at least Tuesday or Wednesday she then will head back to Kiev to do paperwork.

Ok now I have filled you in on our surroundings more about our newest member of the Family. That’s right it is a go with this little guy he is HEALTHY. HORRAY. His name will be Ethan William Dmitri Waterland; his birthday is January 16, 2008 that makes him 2 years 3 months old. He weighs about 20lbs, which is small for a 2 year old but we all know what good food can do for the body. He has a touch of Bronchitis right now and is a separate area away from his group. We have noticed that in the 4 days we have seen him he is getting better and more full of life. Today he went to walk to an area that he could not go, so I grabbed his arm to stop him and he tried to push my hand of of his, and then fell to the floor. We have had him laughing and he has warmed up to us well. Laura has played well with him throwing a ball to him and singing to him. We had Dr. Anna from Kiev fly down to look at him and she read the medical reports on him and examined him and she gave him the all clear, which was one very big weight, lifted off our shoulders. So now the paper work begins tomorrow. We are hoping to be back in Kiev for Easter and fly home like Paul said around the week of April 12 (2 months since we left) we are hoping that all the government agencies pull their weight and get us home quickly.
We do not have internet in the apartment so we are sitting in a restaurant that has wifi for free. We will be able to check emails and the blog from here at least every other day or so. I am attempting as I type this to put video of the little guy on you tube, I have put some pictures up of him. I am sure there is more I can tell you but my mind is not working very well and cannot think. Next time I am going to type it at the apartment and then put it on the blog that way. Lol
So we have finally reached the goal we set out for a month ago and what a wonderful feeling it is. I knew that when we got to this point it would all be worth it and I was right but never thought it would take this long. We cannot what for you all to meet him.

Love to all

Jennifer, Martin, Laura and Ethan

The Train and the name of the city on the side

Laura in her bunk on the train

Arrived and doing fine.

2010-03-12T15:37:00.002-05:00

Well it’s Paul doing the update today as Jennifer, Martin, Laura and ? are in the hinterlands of Ukraine right now and can’t get access.

After taking the overnight train they have arrived in Zaporizhzhia ( Click here for a map for those so inclined) at 6:45 AM on Thursday morning. They had a sleeper cabin so Laura managed to get some sleep but not so much for Martin and Jenny. It evidently was quite an old time train ride with lots of carriage swaying and bumping and generally crossing ones fingers it stayed on the tracks. They went straight to the apartment and then to the orphanage arriving at 9:30’ish. Once the formalities of meeting the orphanage director and bribing the guards ( ok ok I added that bit) were out of the way they got to see the little boy for about 45 minutes. He was very shy at first but considering he was dumped in a room with four strangers he warmed up by the end. He’s very small for his age ( which is normal for an orphanage child as Laura’s size, when they met her, can attest to...and look at her now) but he was very alert and interested in things. This Saturday they are getting an independent doctor to come down from Keiv to spend a few hours with him and make sure he is all fine. So all being well they can jump this final hurdle and come Saturday the adoption train can get in full gear. If it does go ahead then all being well they should be back about April 11’th ( unless the wheels can be sped up)

GOOD NEWS

2010-03-09T16:32:00.002-05:00

Well as you can tell by the title we have been proposed a child finally. It is a little boy who is 2 years 2 months ( Jan16, 2008) it looks like he is healthy and we are keeping our fingers crossed. We have to leave Kiev and travel tomorrow night to a city called Zaporizhzhya, this will take us about 10 hours. We will be travelling with another facilitator named Natasha who will stay with us until we decide whether we are accepting this child, then she will probably leave us to come back to Kiev to do paperwork. We saw 3 pictures of the boy, in one he was 5 months old another around 10 months and the other we could not pin down an age.
We may be without internet for while as the last family had to go to internet coffee shops to update the blog. As soon as we know we are going ahead with the adoption then we will post pictures.

So our journey is moving again and we hope that it is in the right direction, with out any bumps.

We will keep you all updated once we know. Right now we need to get a goods night sleep as I don't think we will get much on the train.

Love

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

XXXXXXX

Fun Day

2010-03-07T13:58:00.002-05:00

As Laura just put it “I had fun today” Even though the snow had come down and the sidewalks are all covered again we ventured out. This time it was onto the subway east then change trains and head North to Obolon. Here we had been told by Helen and Dave of a shopping mall called “Dream Town” after some searching on the internet we were pretty sure we knew where it was. We came out of the subway and there it was, talk about easy to find, unlike the other day.
What a great place to go, on the first and second floor are shops, I had my hopes up as I had seen on the internet that Marks and Spencer was there but it was only their clothing line and no food. On the third floor though was the fun centre. There was: bowling, air hockey, trampolines, child’s train, children’s ride on coin operated rides, roller blade skating rink, ice rink, bumper cars, miniature golf, bouncy castles, curling rink (2 lanes) food court. Laura thought Christmas had come again. This time she did the trampoline, and we all did the bumper cars. Laura went in a car on her own to start with but was having a some troubles, so one of the men who worked there jumped in with her to help her drive it. Martin and I thought this was so nice. We also had an ice cream at a place called Mc Foxy. Not had ice cream in a month now till today. We also found a really good toy store to look around and they have really different types of toys. As you walked down the mall you had sections were there was coffee places and each one done in a theme, one Hollywood with a big King Kong, Spiderman on a web and Batman hanging from the ceiling, another was a Chinese theme, the lost city of and a jungle theme and this scaled all three floors so you could look down at it. We spent over 3 hours there and had a really fun time. If any of you are interested you can see a few pictures at the web site http://www.dreamtown.kiev.ua/ .

We also met a couple that is from Ukraine but had been living in Minnesota for 10 years, but their green card ran out. We have exchanged phone #’s with them.

The one thing was we had forgotten to take the cameras with us, so we have no pictures to share with you. We are hoping to go again and next time we will not forget the camera.

Take care

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

xxxxxxx

As a side note we have now gone to 8 different subway stations. We are really proud of ourselves.

2010-03-07T05:07:00.003-05:00

Today (Saturday) the snow you had back home finally made its way across the Atlantic, then over Europe and dumped it on Ukraine. Now it did lose some strength in that distance, but it was still enough for it to settle and cause our Temp to drop to -6C and a few inches to settle on the ground. So all I can say is thanks a bunch Canada J .
It was another day of staying in due to weather, and the fact that my body still hurts from the excursion it took falling to the ground. Laura got some more school work done, and when she really focuses you can see that she really does know some of her stuff. It was then off out to visit with our Canadian clan for supper. This time we went to Peter and Wendy’s place, they put on a really good meal, and Helen and Dave brought along a chocolate cake, just what we all need. They are all very good with Laura and when Laura asked for music to be put on Peter obliged and next thing you know everyone was up and dancing. Laura thought this was great and it occurred to Martin and I that although she misses everyone it is also the fooling around with other (not just her Parents) that she misses. She is after all a social butterfly. We then realized that the subway closed at midnight, and it was now after 11, so it was a quick get ready and down to the metro, we made it in time to catch the last train home, otherwise Wendy and Peter would have had house guests for the night. All in all we all had a really good evening. Laura decided also after this that she like Ukraine again, we are hoping this continues.

Oh ya just so you all know seeing as your all still sleeping at this point (must be nice to sleep in till noon :) ) It's still snowing a little bit.

Take care everyone

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

Crummy Day

2010-03-05T14:35:00.002-05:00

Well to be quite honest today has been a pretty crummy day. We are all getting to the end of our tethers; the waiting is getting harder and harder to do. Although the sun was shining for the 3rd day it did not help to make me feel better. A good cry was in order this morning. We decided we needed to get out of the apartment and found a shopping centre online that said it had an indoor skating rink, play land and bowling alley. So off to the subway we headed and along 2 stops. Now normally my sense of direction has been really good, but not this time. Martin thought we should go one way, but I was sure it was the other so off we set. Now unfortunately my way was icy, and just when we had got past the thick stuff I stepped on a thin piece of ice and down I went along with Laura. It was not only ice but dirty water too, so we both got very wet pants. Laura had a meltdown, and Martin asked a girl were we could find some pants for her and she directed us to the shopping centre we had been looking for back the way we had come. This is starting to be a long story. Anyway once there we found new jeans for Larua and mine dried on me. We found the play land and Laura got to play on slides climbing frames and ball pits. This made things much better for her. The ice rink is a full size rink but with 4 pillars in the middle of the ice. It is an old Factory converted to a shopping centre spread over 2 buildings. We also found the bowling alley. It was well worth going too, if only we didn’t have the mishap. The mall is called Bil’shovyk.

Well that was our day eventful in many ways; I am now nursing an aching body, and tiring to stay hopeful for next Tuesday. Sorry this post is a downer post, but really need to get it off my chest.

Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

Sitting in Ukraine

2010-03-04T12:40:00.003-05:00

I understand some of you are having trouble posting Comments to our blog. If you would like to send us a message we are checking email daily at jennifer.martin.waterland@gmail.com would love to hear from some of you.

Anyway a couple of days have passed, at least for us it has, seeing as it is almost 8pm on Thursday night. Yesterday was doing the normal household chores, dusting, cleaning the bathroom etc. The sun was shining so it was out for a walk just to see some areas we have not seen from this new apartment. We went to a park for Laura (Laura and Duane you will know where we went) on the way we saw a Mercedes Benz with a Canada flag on the plate I then realized that not only did it have the flag but it was in fact an Ontario licence plate very strange thing to see. We then stopped to phone Paul before he left for work to sing Happy Birthday to him. Hope you enjoyed your supper brother. Then to the park, then a walk down to the circus to try to find out when we can go, but no one spoke English and the times, dates and ticket prices are not really clear so we are still none the wiser.
We saw our first Motor bike yesterday from the window of the apartment; Martin says it was an older Moto Guzzi for those of you who know what we are talking about.

Today I was not feeling too well, and feeling really tired, so we have stayed in the apartment all day. I think Martin is going a little stir crazy so he went for a walk to get some milk, but I needed the down time. Laura did some school work which was like pulling teeth to get her to do it, but once sat down she did really well. Some math, clock reading, matching words to pictures and reading. The sun was shining again today, which at least made outside look brighter. An afternoon nap helped me feel a little better. We have been invited for supper on Saturday night to Peter and Wendy's place. This couple had been matched with a little boy and they had travelled to see him but sadly there were some health issues and have returned to Kiev. We are looking forward to seeing them again.

Well that’s about it for now, not sure what tomorrow holds. Wishing the days would go quicker so we get to Tuesday and our appt with the SDA.

Take Care

TTFN

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Not so good news

2010-03-02T07:07:00.004-05:00

Yesterday we were hoping for the phone call to say we had another appt. at the SDA, but instead just as we were going out sightseeing, Lesya called to say we would be picked up in 45 mins to meet her at the SDA. We were picked up by a different driver called Vadim, we arrived at the office and Lesya was not there yet. We waited 30mins for her to show up. She then explained that we had an appt that day with the SDA but she knew there were no healthy children to be had. She has pushed the SDA to let us have an appt. on March 9 when she is sure we will be presented with a healthy child. This journey is not for the faint of heart and we are really having to roll with things. This news is really hard to take as we will have been here 4 weeks by the time we go back to the SDA. We are really putting everything we have in to trusting Lesya. So we sit for another week in the hopes it all turns around. We got dropped off at Helen's flat and she took us to a cool toy store. Now we have not seen any motor bikes on the road, but we have made up for it by finding a model Ducati Monster S4, which Martin felt he needed to buy. Think he is missing seeing the yellow mistress once in a while. :) Then it was home on the subway (we are getting really good at that now) for a late supper and watching some TV shows that Paul downloaded for us. Today so far we have not done too much, now that we know we are not leaving we went and did a big grocery shop (had hoped to take pictures but left the chip in the computer), vacuumed and cleaned up in general. We are going to go to St. Vladimir Cathedral and then onto the Golden Gate. We have had sun today and it is +5 so the ice is melting on the sidewalks and becoming lakes. Hopefully later I will add some pictures from today.

TTFN

Jennifer, Martin and Laura xxxx

Well we had a really nice day, after lunch we headed for the subway (our new form of transportation) and went to the Cathedral I mentioned earlier. You will see many people walking down the sidewalk and stop in front of a church to pay respect then continue on their way. The cathedral itself was beautiful with all the paintings on the walls going up into the bell towers. Lots of gold everywhere and candles lit. For those of you who may not know Ukraine is largely Orthodox Christian churches/cathedrals. The outside is painted yellow with blue domes and 1 gold dome. This looked wonderful in the sunlight today.
From here we walked to the Golden Gate. This was once 1 of the Gates into the walled city this was 2.5 miles long and the gate was original constructed in 1037. They have rebuilt most of it in 1982 for the 1500th anniversary of Kiev. We stopped and got some wonderful pastry’s at what you could say is a portable type building, with a small window to order at. Really don’t know how to tell you more than that. Will have to get a picture to show you. We had been seeing these but today got up the nerve to try them, it could become our new favourite snack. These only cost us a $1 for all 3 and were the size of a large cinnamon bun.

We made our way to the University of Kiev which is completely painted red and very large, worth seeing just because of the colour. This is how you know it is a University in Ukraine.
Across the road is a very nice park and probably even nicer in the summer, we found some playground equipment for Laura and there were a lot of other children there playing as well even though it was fairly deep in snow and water. By this time the sun was setting and it was back to the subway station (we take this as it is a very big hill up from our place to get to these things) we got home just in daylight (6 o'clock).

As a side note Martin is making it his mission to get Ukrainian people to smile, we have noticed that most don’t and even when you smile at them they do not smile back. We are hoping that with spring just around the corner people might smile more. Now if you have smiled at this then Martin has accomplished something at least.

Well it is bye for now

Jennifer, Martin and Laura Lou

St. Vladimir Cathedral

The Golden Gate

Slow Sunday - Go Canada GO

2010-02-28T14:56:00.010-05:00

Right, being as it is Sunday we've had a quieter day, I had a sleep in, while Laura played and not sure what Martin was doing. It was a day for getting laundry done, then trying to figure out where to hang it as there is no drying rack, so the jeans got hung over the back of chairs and put on coat hangers and hung from the curtain rod. It is amazing the things you come up with when you have no choice and the usual things not there. We have Laura's rope strung across the room from door handle to door handle to dry some other laundry. What would we do if she did not like hanging laundry and we think to pack a rope. :)

The washing machine seems to take about 2 hours to do the wash, which allowed us some time to play and dance with Laura. We had her MP3 player on playing kids music and we took the 2 fake plants and put them in the middle of the room to dance to "Here we go around the mulberry bush" what a sight Martin, Laura and myself skipping around fake plants.

We did get out for a couple of hours, and made our way back to the open air market; we realized that it is made up of cargo containers with containers on top of them for storage. Everything is sold here from packed food to meat and cheese, clothing, toys, makeup ect. Prices are cheap a man’s wool coat for around $85. Laura did really good and walked for a while listening to her MP3 player, and then we did spelling, Laura asking how to spell a word and me telling her to sound it out and spell it, she did really well at this.

Something we have not told you is that you will see old women on the sidewalk selling all kinds of meat and chicken out of box, that is sitting on the ground and the meat is not wrapped up in any way. Both Martin and I are not eager customers; we will stick to the grocery store.

This is it for our day but right now we are watching the Canada vs USA hockey game live on a German station, all I can say is it is a good job we know the game as we cannot understand anything they are saying. Oh for Don Cherry. (anyone would think I wached hockey all the time)

I have included some new pictures of our time here below.

The Waterlands

St. Micheal's church. note the DOCC hats.

This reads Moto Sport. Have to get the bikes in there.

Under ground shopping, your local varity store

Your local garage, to the right out of sight is a rack of Good Year Tires. John you can bring the Jeep here

Out door Market

2010-02-27T17:31:00.002-05:00

Friday, Feb. 26, 2010

Today we walked to the big grocery store; this is a much more of a pleasant experience due to the large size of the store and more selection of product. We found ground beef which is the first time in 3 weeks, along with french fries. (These both made great suppers). There are 2 aisles of Vodka not that we drink it. Instead of a lobster tank they have a carp fish tank, which Martin says some of the fish look like last year’s catch. One thing we have to watch is how much we put in the cart as we have to remember that we are carrying it all home.
We attempted to go to the large open air market but due to Laura having issues with the crowds we had to abandon the idea.
Friday night we went to the Canadian Embassy pub night. This was a very surreal experience as in all my travels I have never been to an Embassy and only think of them when you hear about them on the news and people us them as refuge when there is a problem in the country. :) It was great to hear all speaking English and understanding everyone, Martin felt like he was at home and jolted back to reality when he walked out the door. We went with Dave and Helen, and Dave with his Finland back ground played the Canuck (Martin) at a game of table hockey, the Canuck won 5-3. There will be no excuses from Dave even though he had an injured shoulder. :) We are hoping our Canada team does just as well. Laura also played hockey with another little boy and did very well. She lost.

Saturday Feb 27, 2010

We were very brave today and conquered the mighty Metro (subway) by ourselves, even changing trains to get on another line. We lucked out as when we asked for help on which train to get on we found English speaking Ukrainians. We were making our way to the Patriotic War memorial complex. Here we saw a very large metal women brandishing a sword and shield, please see link. There were many artillery vehicles of the era and large sculptures depicting the war.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_the_Great_Patriotic_War,_Kiev
We then went onto a monastery that has caves underground with mummified saints in glass caskets. You walk through with only candle light to guide you, as most people stop and pay respect and kiss the caskets.

We then made our way back to the metro to come home.

We still do not have a date for the SDA. Hoping to hear on Monday, 3 weeks since we arrived.

Love to you all

Jennifer, Martin and Laura

up stakes and moved

2010-02-25T17:09:00.005-05:00

The couch pulls out to a nice comfy bed for Laura and gives us

much more space for us all to sit.

Our new kitchen with a lot more counter space and a stove that does not require me to use a match to light it.

Yesterday was a slow day; we stayed at the apartment most of the day in case Lesya called to say we would be moving. I was not feeling to good so it was a good time to stay in and get packed up. Around 2pm Lesya called to say we would be moving over to Peter and Wendy’s apartment due to the fact they had been to the SDA and been matched with a child out of town. They would be catching the train that night and we would be picked up between 7 and 8pm. We decided to take a walk down to the square and take pictures of things we had not yet done, we knew that the square was going to be a long walk or subway ride away. We found an old double decker b

us that has been changed to a restaurant. It was a nice walk and we got home at around 5pm, I did an early supper and used up some of the food, so we would not have to move it.
At 7:30pm Lesya called to say they would be there in 15 mins to pick us up and to get everything down stairs. It was only about a 20 minute drive across town to get to our new place and was it worth it. It is smaller than the last place but it is 100% better. We have more cooking utensils, pots and pans and the oven has racks so we can use it also. It is cleaner and brighter with 2 big windows to let light in and has a much cosier feel to it. We are on a main road so during the day there is traffic noise, and at night there is a little noise but we will get used to that. We have both realized that we were getting depressed at the other place and now we both feel ready to take on what comes our way. We have a bigger grocery store nearby that is a little bit more like home and is easier to shop in with Laura as it is not so crowded. There is a large open air market that we intend to go explore tomorrow.
We are told that we should be going to the SDA next week and our fingers are crossed that the luck will turn, like Peter and Wendy’s has. So by this time next week we may still be here in our luxury place or moved on to a whole new town. Talk about not being in control of your life.
Take care everyone

Jennifer, Martin and Laura
Xxxxxxxxxx

PS : just as a side note our friends who moved out have been matched with a little boy and we are waiting to hear more from them.

Nice Sunny Day

2010-02-23T16:54:00.008-05:00

Our apartment building

The Subway

Well another sunny day today and out we went for a walk again to St-Andrews this time with success of buying gifts. Yesterday it got too cold to finish so we did it today in the sun. Then it was back to the apartment for a bit of lunch, then off out again to go shopping with Dave and Helen our new friends to help purchase birthday supplies and a birthday cake as their son Oscar turns 3 tomorrow. Happy Birthday Oscar. This was a very long walk as we went to a new store that is much bigger grocery store than any near us or them. In total we must have walked 4 kms there and 2kms home. This is near where we may be moving to, so gave us a great opportunity to see that side of town. We were lucky to find a transformer to convert from 220volts to 110volts so that we can charge Laura's Nintendo DS. This was the one thing we did not look at to make sure it would work. So now the saving grace device will continue to work, and Mummy and Daddy will not get any more grey hair. We decided to take the subway home or at least to near Dave and Helen's place, and what an experience. The escalator ride down took us at least 3-4 mins oh ya I forgot to mention this was in rush hour. Talk about hold on to Laura tight or she would be bowled over by people, once on the train it took off like a bullet and I just about fell over as I was not expecting it to move so fast and I was holding on to Laura. The city is very hilly so some of the subways are really deep underground. This is truly an experience to be had and glad we have done it. It cost for all 3 of us $0.48 to go any were in the city. I was pleased about taking this as my feet were really hurting and I am not sure Laura would have made it up the big hills.
Thanks to Dave and Helen for helping us navigate this new experience.

So we had a very busy day and Martin was good enough to cook supper and do the dishes tonight as poor me had very sore feet. Martin took one of the large water bottles and cut out the side, filled it with water so my foot would fit in and soak. Thanks dear.
We will get a picture of this next time I use it.

Look forward to hearing from some of you and hope you are enjoying our journey.

Love

Jenny, Martin and Laura

xxxxxxxxxx

Not great news but it is what it is

2010-02-22T10:30:00.003-05:00

Well after typing the blog this morning we headed out to St-Andrews descent. We took the funicular down the hill, only to have Lesya call us just as we got on. She needed to meet with us for the money to pay for the apartment and internet. So we met her at the bottom and they drove us back to the apartment to get the money we needed to pay them. They then drove us back to the funicular which saved us a walk up the hill oh ya and I should mention that Laura begged them to drive us as she did not want to walk. So it was back down the Funicular, walked along the road and finally after asking for some directions we found the narrow, cobbled descent. The only way to describe the road is rocks to make a cobble road. The sidewalk was still too icy to walk on in spots so we walked up the road. It once again is a very steep hill with vendors up the sidewalk. We found some souvenirs, but because we set out late it was getting dusk and cold so we decided we will go back another day to finish that job.

Now to the talk with Lesya, it turns out that they will be turning off the hot water in our building later this week, due to some people not having hot water in their apartments for 5 months. So we are going to be moving to what we think is a better apartment, so we are ok with this. This will be on Wednesday or Thursday. Now what this means is that we are not going back to the SDA this week, as there are no children and the ones they do have are over 5 years old. So we are going to be here another week without a child. So much for fingers crossed. We think things may be being held up due to the fact that they just voted in a new President and no one wants to make decisions as the new government will put new people in charge. We are not sure but we wonder if this is slowing us down.

So yet again we are still tourists and running out of things to do in some ways. We want to see everything on this side as we will be right the other end closer to the train station and it will be long walk back.

The Weekend

2010-02-22T04:26:00.010-05:00

Friendship Arch, and Bronze Statue

Saturday 20, 2010

We had a really good day today even though it was drizzling out. We took a walk over to this big arch we could see from the park where we feed the birds. It turns out it is called the Friendship Arch; it is dedicated to the unification of Russia and Ukraine, but called "The Yoke" by kievans. The rainbow shape arch is 50 metres in Diameter. Underneath are 2 very big statues one depicts a Russian and Ukrainian worker holding up The Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples and is made of bronze, the other depicts the participants of the Pereyaslavska Rada.of 1654 and is made of granite. They are really very impressive. There is also a viewing area where you can see the Dnipro River and across to the east side of Kiev. This is all set in park land which this city seems to have a lot of. We then walked and found the Children’s Theatre which the building looks like a little castle from the outside. We did not go in this building but we may find out if any of it is done in English. Here is a website to see what it looks like. http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20072/114

Out side the Children's Theatre

We continued up the hill and found a Water information Museum set in an old water tower. It explains how the Dnipro River is important to the country for water supply, it walks you through how the city has developed its water supply and the filtration system that they use, they are also trying to teach Ukrainians conservation of water and how wasteful they can be with water. Laura really enjoyed this as she got to see a bathtub and sink overflowing, showing how much water is wasted, they also had a great BIG toilet that was about 5' tall. This caused some good laughs from all of us. At the end they had a sand play area and a bubble section in sinks to play with. The big excitement was a little kiddie pool filled with soap and bricks in the centre which you stood on and they had a big hoola hoop they lifted over your head and put you in a bubble, this was the highlight for Laura. This is well worth a visit oh and I forgot to mention that it is a guided tour but we were given an English speaking tour guide and we were the only ones were as the Ukrainian’s went around in groups of 15 at least. Talk about having special treatment. :)

On the big Toliet, and in the bubble

We then came home to have lunch and Laura a little nap, later we headed out again to Independence Square, which the main road is closed down on Saturday and Sundays. This brings out a lot of people just walking around along with buskers. We found 4 guys playing guitars and drums and playing Beatles music, which they did very well. We wandered around and went up some streets we had not gone along before. A lot of the stores are high end stores with clothes, jewellery, shoes etc. Then there are addidas, colour of Benetton, Nike stores. We cannot figure out how the people afford it. By this time it was +2 and foggy but we had a really good time.

We are still trying to get use to people walking around with beers in their hands, and teenagers gathering in the underground walk ways drinking, none of them bother you as you go past, and they never seem to be drunk and falling about. They do leave the bottles lying around but by morning it seems to be all cleaned up. We have seen the stray dogs around that we were told about but not too many. The weather has warmed up a bit and the sidewalks are not covered in snow or ice as much. They seem to be trying hard to clear the snow away, and most days you see front end loaders and trucks taking the snow away. At times we could do with rubber boots as lakes are on the sidewalks now in places.

Sunday 21, 2010

Today we went over to Dave and Helen's place, plugged Laura's DS into their voltage transformer and were pleased to see that we had not blown the plug for it. Laura is really happy now that it is charged up again for her to play. We are now going to try to find a transformer converter for it. The only piece of electronics we did not check before leaving. Agggghhhhh. We all then walked to another mall further out of town, we had been told of this place by another couple who adopted their daughter last year. It was a good long walk to get to but well worth it. Helen and Dave's son Oscar turns 3 on Wednesday and they are planning a birthday party for him at the orphanage, so we were all looking for balloons and streamers, which were lucky enough to find. The weather let us down though as it started to snow wet slushy snow and by the time we got back to their place mine and Laura's feet were soaked through. Martin and Dave went out and got pizza for all of us and had a really good day and evening. After talking to mum on MSN it was off to bed.

Monday 22, 2010

We have woken up today to sun ( oh thank heaven started to think it was gone forever) and the temp is 0C once I am done typing this we are off out to enjoy it.

Hope everyone is well at home and in England, I will try to update this each day as we are hoping beyond hope that we get a second appt. with the SDA this week and finally get matched with our second child.

Losing track of Days

2010-02-19T08:37:00.008-05:00

Department store

Laura feeding the blue tits.

Well I did not realize that I had not updated this for 2 days, so here is what we have been up to.

Wednesday 17, 2010

We woke up to sunshine this morning and all 3 of us jumped for joy. We could see the snow melting outside our window and we hope this is a trend that keeps happening as it will make our walking around much easier. We went and found the department store that we had been told of, it is 6 storeys high and each level is a different department. It had a cool toy section with lots of different toys we don't get at home and some much nicer I felt. If only the suit case was bigger. In this store the security guards wear fatigues. We then continued down the road and found a fish and fresh produce market, we could get all different kinds of fruit from around the world, seeds, nuts etc. the only problem is the vendors are right there trying to get you to buy and the prices are even written in the cyrilic form, so we don't know if it is a good price or not. We then wandered the streets you could say and found another mall that was really, really expensive, when you walk in and see Tiffany’s Jewellery you know it’s out of our league, but we went in any way. It was really nice and I decided to take a picture from inside the glass elevator, as we stepped out a security guard came over to tell me to take no pictures. Martin was a little freaked out and had a vision of me in jail; :) we went down below street level and found yet another grocery store. In all the malls you are not allowed to take pictures for some reason. This is frustrating as we would like to share with you all what it looks like. On our travels we have seen a Ferrari accessories and Porsche dealer store, not seen any Ferrari on the street though.
You do see lots of stray dogs wandering the streets and old women begging this is really hard to see but the hardest by far was the young woman who is kneeling down and looked about 7 months pregnant. It occurred to Martin and I that she might not be but either way it was hard.
When going in some stores they have little lockers for you to put your bags into from other stores, this saves you we think from being hassled by the security if they choose to check your bags. The stores on a whole are really nice and a few different ideas I would love to see back home. I am missing our grocery store's back home and the varity we get in sauces. There is the pasta but not really any sauce to put on it. This day was a lot of walking and Laura did really well, but on a whole she is not liking the walking everywhere, so when we get home Laura will be doing a lot more walking.

Thursday 18, 2010

This day we stayed home in the morning to do some laundry and general tidying up, I had a bit of a nap in the afternoon. Later on we walked to the park and fed little birds called coal tits and blue tits some bread, we had them landing on our hands to take it from us. We then found the funicular for us to take to the bottom of St.-Andrews decent this is where we will buy gifts. We are waiting for a sunny day to do this Ha-ha, or some of the ice to melt on the sidewalks at least. We then came home, got some supper and that was our day. I did do some research last night and we think we understand how the subway works, and also found a zoo here in the city so we may try to go to these things. We have also found another mall further out which we may take the subway too.
We are starting to feel comfortable with our surroundings but you sure have to have patience with the adoption side of things. We are still waiting to here when we will get to go back to the SDA.

We have been able to watch the Olympics on Euro sports station so this has been good viewing.

Just a few other tidbits, we do not have a plug for our sink in the kitchen so for the last week I have been using a sponge left here to plug the sink, last night it 0ccured to me that the plug from the bath tub might work and sure enough it does. Martin found another lamp in a cupboard that we thought just had bedding in it so we now have one for the living room and bedroom, this is much better than the big lights in the centre of the ceiling.

Friday 19, 2010

Today we went shopping for a can opener as we bought some tins of corn then realized we did not have any way to get in them, and just a little searching of other stores, picked up more groceries. This is the extent of what we have done today, and also playing with Laura.

Well cannot think of much else to say, so I will say good bye for now.

Pictures

2010-02-16T16:34:00.004-05:00

Today we went to a 10th century church called St-Sophia, it is really an amazing thing to see, the painting on the walls were in places the paint is gone but the pigment is in the wall so you still can see the picture. It is on the world heritage list. It has slate floors and marble and slate sarcoffagus' inside. Really an amazing thing to see.

Leysa picked us up at 5pm and we went to the notary office where a letter was typed up asking the SDA to give us another appt. date and explaining why we did not go see the child we had talked about in the last post. It looks like we will not be going back to the SDA till next week now. This took 2 hours as the traffic here is just unbelievable bumper to bumper, for those of you reading this in England it is as bad if not worse than London.
We had planned on going out again after Laura had had a nap but this did not happen and we stayed home and got our supper.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny(fingers crossed) so we are planning a full day of things.
Below are just a few pics of of things from the past week.

skating at Independance Square, we have done this twice now.

our kitchen, I have to do a lot of things on top of the washer as there is not much counter space. We have 2 pots and 1 frying pan and discovered tonight that I cannot use the oven as there are no racks in it. The plates are all sandwich size.

This church we can see out the side kitchen window by the sink which you can see in the picture above.

Internet connection Fixed

2010-02-15T16:41:00.002-05:00

Well it looks like we have our internet connection figured out and we have had a signal all day. Horray. This really is our only link to home, so if you want to send us a message it would be great to hear from some of you.

Today we waited home all morning and part of he afternoon for Lesya to call to take us to the SDA to try to get another appt. with them but by 1pm we called her to find out we could not go today. We are hoping we go tomorrow now.

We went out to get grocerys which is an interesting trip in its self. A lot of the time we look at the picture on the package to try to figure out what it is, and somethings do have English on them so that really helps. We have managed to find ketchup, mayonaise, milk is a little creamy over here, fruit and veg are good and they also have frozen veg. we are now getting more comfortable with the shopping trips. The fun part is carrying it all home up hill. We are now really getting used to the underground shopping and have found that we can stay underground for the full length of Independance Square at least 1 mile. This is really good with the way the sidewalks are.

We later met up with our friends and all went ice skating on the square again, this really breaks the day up. Then it was out for a drink, I had a hot chocolate, and to all our surprise it was like they had melted a chocolate bar for me into a cup. Talk about rich and a little much, I will not be ordering that again. Then it was home and some lovely pork chops, rice and brocolli for supper. We have talked to family at home through MSN which is great to do.

Well we have now been here a week and the time has gone by quickly and we hope that soon we will meet a little one.

Today was a little warmer and we sure hope this is also a trend we want to see

Snow and Jet Lag

2010-02-14T06:13:00.003-05:00

We are having a lot of problems with our internet, one day it works then it does not the next, we will get it for 1 minute then it is down, talk about frustrating and I thought Rogers internet was bad. Oh and then there is the weather snow, snow and more snow. The first few days were good but then it seems to have snowed each day since and they do not seem to have a lot of shovels, I think we should have brought shovels let alone anything else. As I am typing this my internet has dropped its signal yet again. The big problem with the snow is that a lot of the sidewalks are made of tile, granite on steps, flat slippery brick, so with the soft snow it is treacherous under foot, with all the hills we have to climb. This does not include the areas where there is 4" of ice on the sidewalk and it is not smooth but rutted and uneven and polished, then with the soft (wet like) snow on top I am amazed we have not yet fallen on our butts, mind you it has come very very, very close.

Saturday we went to the area called St. Andrews Decent, this is a hill with all vendors on the sidewalk selling every kind of souvenir you can think of. We only got a little way down, when we decided to abandon the trip due to sleet coming down and the side walk being too icy. We ended up coming back to the apartment as it was really cold with the wind. Our faces were frozen solid.
Last night we went over to Helen and Dave's place for supper along with the other couple Wendy and Peter, it was a great night out and we did not get home till 1am. It really is nice to have people to go talk to. Helen and Dave have a really nice apartment, and Martin and I have both agreed that if we end of staying in Kiev then we will see if we can upgrade. We are all planning on going ice skating at Independence Square tomorrow. For those of you who do not realize we did not bring our own skates we rent them.

Seeing as we were so late last night we did not get up till 11:30 this morning, we are all still struggling with the jet lag and the fact that we have not seen sun in 7 days now.

Tomorrow Monday we will go back to the SDA and hope they give us another appt. before the end of next week.

Well that is about it for now and hopefully we will have good news tomorrow.

Our first 5 days

2010-02-12T08:13:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone

Where oh Where do I start, I think I will add more from the start of our trip.

The airport - Laura was very anxious to get on the plane and really did not understand why she had to line up at the security gate and really wanted all the people to move so she could get through quicker, but with some talking to she calmed down and we got through with no problems. We went to a store were we bought a cuddly moose with a Canada hat and sweater. We were lucky that at our boarding lounge they had slides which kept Laura busy till we boarded. Once on board she was fine, and as we went down the runway she was giggling away. The first part of the flight went well, but when it came time to get her to go to sleep, she was not interested, some time playing the DS helped to calm her down, and by 11pm she was asleep, this only meant she got 2 hours sleep. The lay over in Amsterdam was really really really long 6 hours felt like 12 hours, and oh ya Laura never layed down and went to sleep. Once on the next flight Laura went to sleep for the whole flight. Horray.

Our first glimpse of Ukraine was of snow, strange seeing as when we left Toronto there was no snow. Martin and I are convinced that on landing, the plane was not stopping because there was snow on the runway. We got of the plane and on to a bus to take us to the terminal and boy was it cold. The woman at passport control almost did not let us into the country as we did not have a destination on our paperwork, we were very lucky that a man from our plane could speak both languages and explained for us and very reluctantly she stamped us into the country. Talk about stress at the start of the trip

Lesya was there to meet us, and all our luggage fit into their car which I was glad of, for the airport is quite away out of town. Once in the city the traffic was bumper to bumper nothing like I have seen before. We were taken to a store to buy the cell phone and then to a grocery store, which is the size of a Macs store to pick up a few things to get us through. Then it was time to battle the traffic again, once at the apartment we were glad to see an elevator to get all our luggage up to the 3rd floor. The apartment is very sparse but it is warm and has the main things we need. We have our own bed and the couch pulls out to a bed for Laura.

On Tuesday we went out exploring, we are a 2 minute walk from Independance Square, underneath the square is a big shopping mall, you cross the roads by going underground and once on the other side you walk a little ways and find more steps down and low and behold there is another shopping area it is really amazing. At the top end of the square is an out door ice rink, and at the other is McDonalds.

Wednesday we went away from the square and up the hill that our apartment is on, which by the way everthing around here is very very hilly, my legs will be very strong for Mosport this year. We found a great park area that looks out over the Dnipro river. On the other side is more of Keiv and we really get a feel of how high we are. There was a childrens area and Laura got to go on the swings and climb on a tower. We then went to St. Michaels Cathdral which was an amazing site. The outside is blue and the paintings inside on the walls and ceiling well words can not describe them. That evening we got together with 2 other couples that our here from Canada, 1 already has a son called Oscar and the other couple will be going to the SDA for there second time on Tuesday. We went to an Itialian resturant and it was really nice to speak with others going through the same thing.

Ok now to Thursday and our appt with the SDA they proposed a little boy to us that mentally was healthy, then I think 5 more of unhealthy children. We left and talked it through about this little boy, who did have some health issues from before which may be bigger in the future, but we decided to go ahead and meet him. It was going to be a 12 hour train ride south to a city called Danetsk. Upon coming home and really thinking about things though we have decided not to go see the boy and instead go back to the SDA for another appt. We are hoping (fingers crossed) that this will be next week.
So for now we are still a family of 3 but we have hope that their is the right child for us out there some where. In the evening we went to the skating rink at Independance Sqaure and Laura and Martin went skating. Martin was by far the best skater out their. We then went grocery shopping.

Today Friday it has been snowing and we decided to stay here at the apartment for the day. Tomorrow we are going to an area called St. Andrews Decent were they have lots of vendors selling souviners. We are then hoping to meet up with our new friends Helen and Dave and Peter and Wendy.

I am going to try to find an internet Cafe so I can up load some pictures as it cost more here at the apartment to do this and I really am not sure how much this is costing me.

So far our first week has been good but with a lot of emotion

We made it

2010-02-10T11:47:00.002-05:00

Well we made it, but have not got any internet at the apartment, so I am doing this from another couple who are also here to adopt. It was a long trip and laura did not so bad, there is a lot of snow and ice. Tomorrow we go to the SDA to see if their are any children to adopt. We have been out exploring a little both days, and found a park for Laura to play in. Our apartment is not bad and it will do for now.
I will up date this when I have more news

The Day has Arrived

2010-02-07T08:57:00.002-05:00

Well Feb 7, 2010 has arrived the suitcases are packed, I am running around doing last minute things, along with fighting a cold ( oh the timing) the feelings are so jumbled up right now not sure what I am feeling ( excited, scared ect.) I do know that Laura is very excited about going and getting a brother or sister and thats all that really matters. We are hoping that everthing goes well and we come home soon to start our life as a family of 4.

So this message to our new Son or Daughter. - Your Mummy, Daddy and Big Sister are flying on a jet plane to come and bring you HOME.

Talk to you all soon, and everyone be safe on this end.

Love to all of you.

2010-01-31T16:46:00.003-05:00

Laura now knows we are going, we told her Saturday morning. She was completely over the moon about it (see attached photo). She was pleased to hear that it is only 1 week till we fly and so far she does not have the worry of the wings falling off the plane. I am hoping she can have a good week at school.

I am now all done work, good thing as I had trouble putting my mind to it on Saturday, Martin is down to 3 more shifts.

I have started to pack the suit cases just to see how the weight situation is and so far so good. Couple more loads of laundry to do to get the final stuff in.

This time next week we will be standing in Toronto airport getting ready to board the plane. Oh what a scary thought.

Flights in place

2010-01-17T15:14:00.006-05:00

Well the travel plans are now in place. We will be flying out Feb 7 at 5:55pm arriving in Holland at 7am, then boarding the plane again for 1:05pm to arrive in Kiev at 4:50pm there time (7 hours ahead of Canada). Three weeks from today we will be heading for Toronto airport. Laura does not know at this point that the tickets are booked and even that the date is set, we feel it is much to long for her to be thinking about it all.
I am in the process today of packing Laura's hand luggage and making sure she has enough toys to occupy her for the flights and the time over there, and lets face it, it is probable the most important packing I can do, as for heaven help us if she is bored :)
I am going to be concentrating on getting things packed and clearing up all the DOCC stuff that I can in the next week.
The head is still buzzing with things to be done, but I am sure we will get it all achieved.

A Date

2010-01-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

The waiting has finally ended and we have a date to focus on. We will be leaving either Feb 7 or 8 and our appointment at the SDA (government office) is set for Feb 11. We can now only hope that they have a healthy child for us and in the right age range. So the planning begins, Martin and I went to the travel agent today to arrange for our tickets, which they are working on as they have to find a company that will not charge us an arm and a leg to change our flights for coming home. Arranged with the bank for some crisp new US bills to be brought in, and my mind is buzzing with everything else I need to get done in less than a month.
The ironic part of all this is that Feb 7 2005 was the day that we first met Laura or back then Nadka, and here we are leaving around the same time of year to bring our second child home. I was not sure how I would feel when we started this process back last year, would I be as excited as I was with Laura, but I sure am, and I am having to keep it all in check or I will go crazy. I am now realizing that our family of 3 will soon be 4 and that feels really good.
So for now I have a lot of planning and packing to get done and hopefully this month goes by quickly but not to quickly.

I will now also apologies for spelling and grammar mistakes as this has never been a strong point for me.

Paper work all sent off

2009-10-22T09:36:00.001-04:00

Here we go you could say the journey begins by starting this blog, Child #2 here we come.

Well all the paper work is completed, the Ontario Ministry finally sent us our Letter of Approval, only took them 5 months, and it should all be in the Ukraine being translated. It will be submitted to the Ukraine goverment on November 30 and we will then be given a date to travel their. This could be in December or Januray we are hoping January so Laura can still have Christmas as normal.