4 months since Gotcha Day!

Thought maybe I'd slip over here and write a little update..
Wow how time flies!!! 5 months since we headed out across the ocean and almost 4 months since we've been home and living life as a family of four!
Sat down this afternoon and read back for the first time through all my posts.... couldn't help but cry sometimes and laugh the next as I re-lived our sometimes stressful sometimes exciting moments of our 6 weeks in Ukraine! Can't believe it's all just a memory now...
So.. life has continued and has continued to improve :) Kody has come a looong way since the little boy we first saw in the orphanage. He is FULL of energy and usually quite a happy little guy, when at home that is :-/ It seems like the more he bonds with us and adjusts the worse he likes being out and about and 'strangers'! If we go to church or a social function he grumps and cries wanting to be held and then he looks at the door and waves bye-bye wanting to go home, as soon as we get home he give his little famous laugh and takes off for his toys happy as a lark! We try to be sensitive to his security and not go and do too much, but finally this mama needs some social life once in a while too! :) Everyone keeps telling me it's just a stage and I'm sure hoping they're right! I really feel like it's a good thing that he just wants his parents and to be at home and that it shows positive signs of adjustment, but kind of hard to remember that when your on 'clean up' at sewing and haven't done anything but tie a few knots on the comforter and watch the clock creep around till 3 :-(
Now on to his good traits :-) He loves to eat, very much unlike my other nibbler that needs encouragement for every bite, every meal! Can't remember when it was for sure, but not long after we got home and he decided he was much too old for baby food and one day he quit cold turkey and would not take another bite of it and insisted on table food! Thankfully it's cheaper HA He only has 6 teeth, but he has a great liking for meat and somehow he can manage to chew gum about any kind you give him. He must have some Italian blood in him somewhere per his great love of pasta... any kind, any flavor, cooked anyway. If it's pasta based he'll scarf it up! Still not really into the 'bottle' thing yet, but we do manage to get 3- 5oz bottles down him a day when an undisclosed amount of sugar is added ;-) Not big on juice, but goes through several sippy cups of water a day. Seems to me like he's kinda losing his baby looks and morphing into the toddler looks a little more although he still has his fat, jiggly baby cheeks that are so fun to pinch and kiss! :-) Have cut his hair several times already and I think its getting a little darker. He just thrives on love and attention, but is NOT a cuddle bug and is the rare occasion that he wants to snuggle in and be all gooshy-mooshy. He is understanding lots of words and sentences that we tell him and has a few recognizable words he says and quite a few more that only daddy and mama can decipher :) He loves, loves, LOVES to be outside and will often be found standing by the door crying, wanting to go out. I will be very glad when spring weather comes and he can just be turned loose outside for hours on end if he so desires!
We have completed all of his doctoring now and have all of his reports back from all the specialist and EVRYTHING has come back clear!! So amazing when I think of his scary Ukrainian diagnosis' and what we had to get willing for when we accepted his referral and now not a single one has proven accurate! So very thankful!!! All of his immunizations were bad so we need to start clear over on them, but that is so minute compared to what we could have been facing!!

Peyton has done extremely well with abruptly being pushed off of his pedestal of king of the castle and it just amazes me how with a 4 year age gap they get along so well and can spend hours playing together! Peyton loves to play 'farming' (and of course selling Reinke pivots) and Kody will be right in there driving his tractor making all the appropriate noises :-) Guess I just never expected them to actually play and get along so well, but boy I'm sure not complaining, just makes my heart swell with pride to watch my two little boys born countries apart and plopped down an ocean away together and acting like they so totally belong together... best buds!! Kody is the early riser and after he plays for awhile he will soon crawl in Peys room and stand up by his bed talking and banging on him trying to get him to wake up and then when Kody takes a nap Pey will keep asking how long does Kody have to sleep, can I wake him up yet? Bill thinks that they both have a special bond because they subconsciously had the same beginnings, but I think that might be pushing the imagination a little! ;-)

 I think we as a family have slowly found our new normal and enjoying every minute of our new little family grown by one little Ukrainian boy who has added so much joy and happiness to our life already!! When I think back to that October Monday day when we were so tied up in knots and sat in our humble abode begging the Lord to intervene for us if it was his will, that the Ukrainian lady would decide not to take him so he could be ours and everything that transpired since and how he is so a part of our family now and we can't imagine life without him... I humbly thank the Lord for answering our prayers more than we even asked and granting us a dream come true! Don't doubt for a minute that it was all meant to be exactly as it is!!! :-)
 Love you forever and always KODY EUGENE NICHOLS!!!

One week home

I've been meaning to write a little update on our new life in America, but it has taken a week now!
We had a nightmare of a trip home on which I won't expound more than that Kody cried and screamed for most of our 11 hour flight!! :( A nightmare I hope to never re-live! For some reason he was happy or either slept on both of our shorter flights for which we were very thankful.
So we are home and mostly over jet lag and trying to find our new normal. Peyton takes his big brother role very seriously and is proving to be a good babysitter already :) He has done very well with adjusting to not having all of the attention and loves his little brother to pieces! With how it went when we had Tanya I thought it was going to affect him a whole lot more than it has. Not that I'm complaining:) Kody is adjusting better each day... he has been sleeping better and longer every night and now last night  we had to revert back to former days, but we hope that was a one night stint! He and Peyton are both awake and ready for the day at 4 which is way to early for this girl who likes to sleep in and hoping we can get that changed a couple more hours yet! It actually hasn't been too bad since we have been fighting jet lag and it's not uncommon to find this family in bed before 8 so I guess we are partly to blame for the early rising. Eating.... I'm still having problems getting Kody to take any formula or milk bottles. A couple mornings when he was really hungry I got him to take most of a formula bottle and I thought I was on to something, but alas that was a passing fad :( I can get by with mixing his cereal with lots of formula and getting a little down him that way. He is eating all kinds of baby food and cereal even some of that with chunks in it so I feel like he's getting quite a bit of nutrition. He's upped his intake volume drastically and am afraid he's going to eat us out of house and home HA He eats 2 big jars of baby food at a time 3x a day plus how many big bowls of cereal! Think we're going to leave 14# in the dust to never return! :)
Kody was very fussy/whiny/cried the first several days we were home and we didn't know if it was because he wasn't eating enough or teething or what all was causing it, but he has gotten SO much better already and with that very clingy and wants you to stay in his sight at all times and looking back now I think he was going through more adjustments than we gave him credit for. It's so easy to think that a 6 month old is too little to have many adjustments, but his little world and everything he ever knew was completely turned upside down and it just took him awhile to get everything sorted out and feel safe and secure again! He seems to be bonding quickly with us. He also has come a very long way with development! When we first starting visiting him at orphanage he could hardly hold his head up, couldn't sit on his own, couldn't even stand with help and now in only a few short weeks of attention, love and encouragement he has blossomed into a baby that will make eye contact, coo, hold his head, stand for as long as you will hold his hands, sit unsupported, and best of all he has that twinkle in his eyes that all orphanage children are missing!!! It's almost scary to look at a child that has emotionless eyes and then with just a little love and tlc that all changes!! SOO rewarding!!! :)
Maybe that's enough details for tonight as I need to be getting some shut eye while that little one is!

Packed and ready!

LAST DAY IN UKRAINE!!! I knew it would be like this after being so ready to go home when it comes right down to it it's hard! :( such mixed feelings over it all... this chapter of our life is closed! Can already think back to past events that at the present seemed so bad and now they don't seem quite as bad and just remembering all the good times, awesome memories, exciting adventures, etc. that we had and just not knowing if we will ever return makes it bitter sweet. But it's time, 6 weeks away from home is long enough. :)
Irina brought over a copy of the original test with the stamp on it straight from the specialized HIV testing lab that showed Kody has had 2 negative HIV tests since his positive one at birth. We were pretty worried about this Dr. who is famous for always ordering more and more tests. And then when she is done with tests she wants a body x-ray!:) We had our argument ready and were ready to get backup help if she didn't cooperate this morning ;-) We were at the office before they opened waiting on them and took in our paper and she actually accepted it and gave us our clearance we needed to get visa!!! From there we headed to the American Embassy and got our immigration papers that will make Kody an American citizen when we land in Houston tomorrow and also his visa. Were back at apartment by 11:30. Started getting things gathered up ready to pack and then at 1 we walked down to our metro station and met Rob, Trish, family and Heidi Sue! They are missionaries about 3 hours south of here and I was in the Winnipeg unit with Trish way back when we were young and foolish and Heidi is Bill's cousin from home that just got here last week to teach school for Rob's kids. Was so disappointed when the team wouldn't let us do any extra traveling so obviously was quite stoked when they started showing interest in coming yesterday and then called this morning and said they actually were! Was very short and sweet, but was so awesome to meet her family, see Heidi in Ukraine, etc. Trish gave me some consolation with Kody and made me feel better that we were doing the right thing. Also gave me some different meds for him that I think will help even more. Sure would've never expected to meet up with her in Ukraine! Never know where life will take you! :-)
After they left this evening I got all packed up and now all 3 boys are in bed and I just weighed the last suitcase and have them all weighing in at 50# even :)
Need to get up at 2 in the morning to get this crew showered, fed and out the door by 3. Have good connections and short layovers, but still have 22 hour flight time so need to get some shut eye myself.
Our heartfelt thanks again to everyone that has supported and encouraged and prodded us through the difficult times, cheered us on and rejoiced with us on our adoption journey, we couldn't have made it with out our friends and family and the many prayers offered on our behalf. I guess we are at the end of the beginning now :)
Goodnight for the last time from Ukraine!!!!!!

To the bottom of despair and back

Oh it has been a really looooong and terrible last couple days and nights!!! :((((( Pey and I both got the flu and Kody is still having his terrible teething pain! Then yesterday afternoon I got one of the worst migraines I have ever had! Nothing would help or even take the edge off and I felt so hopelessly helpless way over on the other side of the world! Lots of desperate prayers were sent up and finally in the middle of the night I got Bill to give me an undisclosed amount of medicine and I was finally able to go to sleep or either knocked out not sure which :) Peyton woke me up at 4:30 this morning and I instantly knew my migraine was GONE!! I just laid in bed and cried I was so terrible thankful!! I don't know when the last time was that I had been so miserable. I think the stress of the last 6 weeks and the flu and everything else combined had finally just gotten too much. Kody woke up then also so the three of us went and hung out in the kitchen. I made some ramen noodles some previous guest had left and Pey and I dined on that and also got a WHOLE jar of baby food down Kody!! He was such a happy boy this morning and was so good to see a little glimpse of our old happy Kody again! Gave Kody a bath and then all of our medicine was running out so we all doped up again and headed back to bed. :) Vitali was here at 7:45 to pick up Bill and Kody and they went to American Embassy. Just talked to Vitali and he said they are still waiting to get in at Embassy (appt. was at 9) but a babushka had taken Kody and put him to sleep so they were all good :) When they get done there they will go get Kody's medical examination and then come pick Pey and I up to go back to Embassy and I think get visa. After being sick I'm convinced that that is what Kody had a couple days ago. I kept telling Bill that something else was wrong, that you are not this miserable just cutting teeth. We didn't have a thermometer then, but he was burning up with fever and since Pey has been sick his temp has been 104 and that is on meds around the clock!! That poor little guy has been through it and he can't even talk to us about it :( When I think of how Pey and I went from being so cold and chilled to the bone that our whole bodies shook even with heater on high and the blankets stacked on top and then an hour later so sweating hot that you felt like you couldn't breath and then I think of poor Kody not being able to tell us and us not knowing.... I can hardly stand to think what he must have gone through! :(
Hopefully we are through the worst of it and it will only get better from here!! :)) Just so Bill doesn't get it now right before we get on that looong flight! BTW we got our tickets changed and are coming home a week earlier, leaving 5:45 am Wednesday morning!:) That is IF the Doctor will pass Kody.. surely the flu will be out of his system enough by now. I vividly remember staying an extra week in Russia because Peyton got chicken pox the day before we got him out of orphanage and he wasn't over them far enough by the dr. examination!:(
Thanks for all who said prayers on our behalf! They were very much NEEDED and FELT and ANSWERED!!
Maybe I should add a little of what an awesome husband and daddy I have with me! ;-)
He has done so totally awesome! Kept up with everyone's medicine schedule, took care of a screaming unhappy baby, changed many, many very poopy diapers, went out and bought sprite, rubbed backs, lost sanity, regained sanity, and everything else in between!!! I have been so very thankful that he stepped up and took over and did an awesome job of it! He's proven all over again what a keeper he is! :-)

Back in Kiev

Hello All

Well as I write this we are back in our apartment in Kiev.  The same one we landed in when we first arrived.  Feels like we've made the full circle.  We packed up in Kryvyi Rih Friday night and boarded the overnight train to Kiev at 9:20 PM.  Kody and I went for a walk just before dark (he really likes to ride in the baby carrier) while Steph packed up and I wandered down and looked at the orphanage one last time.   It seemed strange...almost eerie.  Such a part of his life and now ours for the last 4 weeks and now we leave and may never come back. Kryvyi Rih will always have a place in my memory.  It is such a prime example of this deeply flawed country that is struggling to find its place in the 21st century while held back so much by ex soviet mind set.  The smart phones, old buses, the BMWs, the shiny new malls and McDonalds, the trash everywhere, the hundreds and hundreds of dumpy soviet era apartment buildings,  the strict attention to picking up all the leaves.  These people are trying their best but there is so much holding them back.  This train seemed rougher than normal.  Lots of jerks like someone was jumping on the brakes and back on the throttle.  There is a emergency brake lever in every car and I think somebody was providing their own entertainment.  PJ and I took the top bunks while Steph and Kody took the bottom.  Kody slept till around 5 so that was a real blessing.  We got to Kiev at 5:40 and our driver picked us up at 6ish.  Back to the apartment and we all slept for a while then to McDonalds for PJs lunch and a sidewalk stand for me and Steph for sharma.  Kody got a lot worse this afternoon.  He basically had to be carried around all the time. He won't eat or drink any amount.  I think his teething together with adjustments is about to push him over the edge.  I finally called the American Clinic here in Kiev and they were nice enough to call their pediatrician and patch me through (this was at 6pm on saturday).  She told me everything sounded normal and what kind of pain meds to get at the pharmacy.  I ran down and found a pharmacy with a pharmacist that actually spoke english! Got the meds and gave them to Kody and he went to sleep soon after and has slept every since.  Hopefully it helps.  He liked this stuff and what we were trying to give him that we brought from home he always tried to spit out...  Steph and PJ both went to bed early with aches, chills and sore throats so I'm not sure what I'm in for.  May be a long night between the three of them.  Now for the really good news.  We will be done here Monday or Tuesday so I had Corwin change our tickets to wednesday of next week.  I haven't got the confirmation yet but I think he got it done so we are on the countdown!  Keep us in your prayers.  Especially for Steph and PJ to feel better and Kody's adjustment and teething pain.

Bill

First days with Kody

The last 3 days have just been a blur, but will try and write a few lines and hopefully won't nod off mid post! ;-)
Kody was just perfect the first day and slept all night and first I heard of him in the morning was cooing and then laughing! That's about as long as the honeymoon lasted :-/ The next day we had fits.. The food issue is just a rerun of Peyton. Nothing is right and we have no idea if we're not holding him right, if it doesn't taste right, too hot/cold or what?! He's teething so that def doesn't add to the general happiness either. It was kinda the pits yesterday that the owner had mtgs. here all day with different groups of people so we were either holed up in our bedroom or out on the town and that was a disaster big time! We went down to McDonalds and on the way home on an extremely overcrowded bus he decided he had had enough! He got so mad and screamed at the top of his lungs and it was too cold and too far to get off and walk and plus it was getting dark and we are not suppose to be walking after dark and nothing I tried would calm him!!!!! I was about having ulcers and the other thousand people on the bus were not amused either! Was glad I couldn't here beyond the screaming:) I didn't know a 6 month old could scream so loud for so long!!!!!!! :-(( I was next to tears and screaming myself when we finally got off! I guess he worked up enough of an appetite with that little tantrum that he finally ate when we got home. Ate a big bowl of cereal plus drank a good share of a formula bottle. Someone please tell me how important formula bottles are versus cows milk? He will drink the cows milk and when they told me his schedule they said his bottles were either or but he seems a little young to be on straight cows milk only or not? Do I keep trying to get him to take the formula? We had the same stress with Peyton, they claimed they never gave him formula at all there! So he slept all night again, one HUGE plus cause I'm one that NEEDS my sleep and i'm not this sweet googling mother in the middle night:( Today went a lot better. Ed didn't have any mtgs here and we stayed at the house most of the day. He did wake up at 5:00 raring to go but..... It rained here most of the day so made it a lot easier to stay inside. Since it was my hubby's birthday we did walk down to the market to get some groceries for a special supper. We bought a baby carrier and Kody really likes that so makes it easy to walk around and get some fresh air if he's content to ride. Oh yes one minor little detail... we were out of water all day, AGAIN!!!  Folks I will no longer take my water for granted when I get home!!!
Ed was gone all day and just got back this eve as we were finishing supper so he joined us for icecream and presents:) Would have to write a whole blog on him and all his stories and what all he's doing here etc. no use to even start cause there's no short version! :) Very interesting guy!!
Good news came this evening that Kody's final passport will be ready tomorrow so Egor will go pick it up and we will leave on overnight train back to Kiev tomorrow night!!! We have an appt. at American Embassy in Kiev Monday morning and then we will get visa and medical exam and we will be ready to head for good ole US of A!! I'm so ready to be home, but I get this strange feeling when I think about leaving this place where we made so many memories and has become so familiar to us already, but life moves on and hopefully we have made sufficient memories to always remember our 6 weeks in Kryvyi Rih!
Also had sad news tonight... the team called and said under no circumstances are we allowed to leave and go see other missionaries or Tanya! :(( They said they are responsible for us while we are here and Kody is to young to be traveling all over Ukraine! We're not sure what we are going to do now... Legally after Tuesday we would be able to take Kody wherever we wanted, but do we want to stay extra days to go see Tanya and especially knowing the team doesn't want us to and told us we couldn't??? Can hardly stand to be so close and not see her. The other problem we have is that we were going to have our favorite driver from Kiev take us and then would be our translator as well and he was all enthused about it, but he called this eve and said Serge said he absolutely could not so.. what would you do?
Need to be sleeping while my little guy is so better shut this down for tonight. I know tomorrow night won't be no night for sleeping :((( I'm so dreading that train ride!

GOTCHA DAY!!!!!

"This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made!" That children's song has been going around in my head all day today, in fact I woke up with it on my mind! :)
And what a day it was!!!
Irina came a little after 6. She said she was going to only need one of us to go with her for the day so I opted to stay at home with Pey and send Bill to do all the legal stuff. They headed out at 7:30 with first stop to get a new birth certificate. Also got a tax id code and applied for 2 separate passports. I had just shaped a batch of cinnamon rolls and Pey was in the shower when Bill called and said Egor would be here in 20 minutes to pick us up :/ Hurry and get Pey ready and stick cinnamon rolls in fridge for lack of knowing what to do with them and go wait outside for Egor. We all head to the bank where we close Kody's account and get his money. Yes the orphans here have a bank account and the government gives them a certain amount of money a month. We withdrew all $1,500 of Kody's and handed it over to lawyer as fast as we got it to go back to orphanage! :( I know it was never really our money and it helps all the orphans left behind yada yada, but I could think of plenty of places we could have put it for a good cause also! From there Egor and Irina headed down town to pick up paper and the rest of us caught a bus and dropped Anna off at orphanage and we had 20 minutes to race home quick warm up some chicken and rice from last night and beat it back to orphanage to pick up Kody!!! Our gotcha day with Peyton was so non monumental and I had always wished it could have been more of an adieu as a big day to chalk down in my memory bank and never forget, but I think this was even less! :( The director wanted the clothes AND diaper (what about that $1,500 we just gave you and that $1,000 orphanage donation and the ? how big donation from the team, none of that was enough to even cover a diaper to send him home in?????!!) we begged  offered that we would change his clothes, but they pretended not to hear and 10 minutes later a nanny brought him down with straight face and handed him over and marched back out! WAIT this precious little sweetheart that you took care of for the last 6 months and you are not going to give him an extra squeeze, tell him bye, look remotely sad, smile at us, wish us the best.... nothing? NOTHING AT ALL???  I wasn't sure if I should cry or scream so I did neither. We did get hugs and well wishes from the director and lawyer and with that we walked out. Who knows will we ever see that place again? such mixed feelings... it makes one feel a little claustrophobic and panicky! We just spent how many hours over the last month at that place and had the trauma and sadness of meeting dear little Max and then turning him down and also all the joy and happiness of meeting Kody that first day on a 'NO touch', 'no questions' only look meeting! And then of course the many happy hours we spent watching that little bud blossom as he learned to trust us and recognize us and I believe I can say love us and I know we can say we learned to love him! Lots and lots of precious memories come from our time spent at that baby house. But what great thing can you do? So we just walked away with smiles on our faces, Kody in our arms and joy in our hearts! :-))
Next on the agenda was a trek over to Dnipropetrovsk to get one last passport for Kody. I went this time and Bill and Pey went to McDonalds and not sure what else ;)  Dnipropetrovsk would be same as our state capitol and is 2 hours drive from here. Was a very beautiful drive with lots of black farmground and little villages scattered here and there along the way. Couldn't believe how many cows and goats were out of the fences and so close to the road until I realized they were all tied up:) Many, many cows and goats tied up to a tree or whatever they could find and there chain would let them graze clear up to the road. At least made the ditches look better where they had been HA It was a 4 lane divided hwy, but not much traffic just a few cars mixed in with mostly trucks. The road would often and for no known reason turn into a 2 lane, but that was no problem you could still make it 4 lane without breaking your current speed or seeming alarmed at the number of vehicles that needed to pass in the minimal amount of space! :-0 I very often had my head banging against the window or Kody getting about thrown out of my lap from the seriously bumpy road, think swallow your car type of large potholes!! We actually made it there and back in one piece and Kody was a perfect angel the whole time!! He was very snuggly and laughed and cooed and looked and looked at me like he just couldn't figure it all out HA Only had to wait about 30 minutes at passport office and on the 3rd try got Kody to look straight ahead for long enough to get his pic. One of the ladies there made a huge deal out of Kody and said Irina has been bringing children here for over 8 years and he is the healthiest, cutest, youngest and sweetest one she's ever brought! :) This team here deals with a lot of Downs and CP children so I'm sure Irina often brings in severely handicapped children and Kody did put on a show for her responding to all of her googling appropriately, so that helped too ;-) Still made me feel good and put a happy tone on the event. All I had brought for Kody was a bottle of apple juice and he started getting really hungry by the time we were about home and did finally stop gagging and spitting at the strange bottle long enough to find out it wasn't going to harm him and that he did kind of like what was inside:) Hope that's not going to be to big of battle:( Ironically the one thing we have exactly like he's used to is his formula and that is the one thing we haven't been able to get him to take.. I give up!
Got home a little after 6 and Bill and Pey were just walking up from there little outing. Spent the rest of the evening at home loving on Kody and changing dirty diapers and.... :)  Am I ready for all this baby stuff??? Ready or not here I come AM!
Pey finally had a meltdown tonight :,(  It's so hard to explain to a 4 year old who's world is turned upside down that everything will be OK! After lots of explaining and a good talk with Daddy and lots of extra loving his back in bed now and sleeping. Hate to see my little trooper having a hard time:((
My eyes are wanting to close on me and something tells me I need to be sleeping while that youngest one is!!
Have to fill in the details I forgot another time, but that's the 'skinny' of our Gotcha Day #2
Not going to take the time to re-read this so forgive all the typos..

10 day wait period officially up, but..

So our 10 day appeal period is officially over, but the birth certificate office is closed on Mondays :( Irina is coming on train tonight and then we have a full day tomorrow!  We have to drop off all info to get new birth certificate made first thing and then apply for passport which allows Kody to travel within Ukraine and also apply for a separate passport to allow him to leave Ukraine, pick up our official court decree, plus a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. One of the documents we need we have to pick up in a town 2 hours from here and Irina really wants to get that done tomorrow if at all possible so she told me this morning that we probably won't be back to Kryvyi Rih in time to pick up the documents we need to get Kody out of orphanage yet tomorrow eve. :(( That's terribly disappointing to me, but what is one night in the grand scheme of things eh?! :)
The owner of this apartment called and said he was coming down for a couple days and wants to stay with us, so had the apartment all cleaned except for washing the floors when Olga calls and said that Yuri will be here at 11 in the morning to clean because Ed Dickson is coming. I tried to explain to her that I had just cleaned it, but couldn't get it across so decided he could come and clean and at least I wouldn't have to wash the floors tonight :) Too bad we won't be home for the entertainment HA Should be very interesting to have Ed here. Sounds like a nice guy on the phone. Never quite sure what to make for food when Irina comes, but beings Ed is from Canada shouldn't have to worry about him liking it! Will be enjoyable to have some other English speaking people around for awhile again!!
My banana bread is out of oven now so should get to bed so I can be up and presentable when Irina gets here shortly after 6 in the morning. Who knows, this might be the last night I can sleep all night for awhile! :) What an exciting thought to think this may be our last night as a family of 3!

P.S. Thanks again to everyone that takes the time to email or comment on blog! It totally makes my day and I appreciate it more than you ever realize!!!!!

Beautiful day #33

Yes we are having just perfect fall weather here!!! It's amazing how it can lift ones spirits when the sun shines so brightly and the trees are beautiful shades of orange and yellow! That also means it's not to cold to take Kody outside on our visits and I think I have said before how much he likes it outside and of course way nicer for Pey to be able to play instead of having to be quite and all cooped up in a room!
I have seen enough of Kody's care that I'm counting down days till we can get him with us 24/7! Did I write about this already on here or was it in an email? :/ anyways here goes again if I did... On the weekend the staff aren't at orphanage so we always just go up to his room and ask for him and then take him back up at end of visit. Most of the time he is in a different room and they bring him out all bundled up and ready to go, but last weekend they had all the babies in a great big pack n play type unit in the 2nd room I go in and so I got to watch them and I had to bite my tongue several times as they yanked on his leg to straighten him out and craned him around to put his hat on as his head just crashes on the concrete hard surface etc. etc. It's 6 months past time that little guy gets some real loving and lots of it!!!! Today when I went up to get him his caretaker informed to go back down to wait and she would bring him down. I played dumb and just kept telling her I couldn't understand Russian and she would emphatically use different words to try and get me to leave, but stubborn me thought it was absolutely ridiculous that I couldn't wait right there on him and so I continued to act dumb and blankly look at the door that she kept pointing too and shrugging my shoulders:) she finally being more stubborn than I let out a huge sigh and pulled me to the door and pushed me out and used very explicit gestures how I was to 'sit' 'stay' and NOT be in this room!!! :) It actually gave me some amusement as naughty as it was, but I get so extremely disgusted with this Soviet lifestyle I can hardly stand it sometimes! :((( why why WHY?! Loosen up, be happy, change, get out of the rut your great grandparents set, ENJOY LIFE!!!! It would be interesting to see the suicide rate for a place like this, I'm sure it would be high! It is SOO drab, bleak, morbid, eery, desolate, cold, dirty, last century, and just discouraging here!! Enough rant on that now. We don't plan on moving back here :)
Had a really good visit with Kody this morning. He is starting to coo, get more strength in his legs, be a lot more alert, look at us with recognition, and yes even showing preference to 'mama'! :)) Love you Kody ;-) Was reading on an international adoption site about every 3 months spent in an orphanage will delay a child one month so that would put Kody at about 4 month old, but I really think he is farther behind than that! It just breaks my heart to think of the rough 6 months he has had in his short life already. Everything seems so new to him. I'm not sure but what he never got farther than the crib in the second room I mentioned and once there just to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling. He is absolutely thrilled with toys, he just loves to hold something in his hand and look at it and wave it around etc. You take him outside and he just whips his head around looking at all the new sights and loves the breeze on his face. So many things 'most' children experience and we take for granted our babies all know about.
For dinner we walked down past our medium market to a restaurant that we have seen several times that looked really neat. It had mostly outdoor seating and it was quite decorated up outside with little flowerbeds and nautical scenes. It had a picture of kabobs on their sign and that is what we have been wanting to find here. We had lots of delicious kabobs in Moscow! The other restaurant that we went to that advertised kabobs came out as fried chicken drumsticks. HA We took advantage of the beautiful day and sat outside and actually got it across to our waitress that we wanted kabobs. (who btw really wanted to communicate with us and tried to help us) We ordered pork and she at first said no pig, steak, but then she kind of made motions and did little ears and I'm not sure what we actually got but it was very good! All of a sudden a burst of smoke came floating around the side of the building and upon inspection it was a charcoal grill with kabobs on it, good sign:) We had ordered 4 kabobs and they came out all piled on a plate, off of the skewers with piles of sliced raw onions on top and doused with dill. Whatever kind of meat it was, i'm thinking maybe lamb? it was very tender, moist and really good flavor. We were so impressed to find edible food at a restaurant. There were only two other parties there, but the food that was taken out to them looked really good as well. We will have to try and get the menu translated and go back and order some sides next time! :)
Now Pey is taking a nap and Bill and I are having coffee and cinnamon rolls. great diet food eh?! :) This batch of cinnamon rolls were a huge improvement from the last.. what I did different I'm not sure!
After our evening visit with Kody it will be time to call in Geiger church service and then it will be another week finished in Kryvyi Rih and one week closer to coming HOME! I'm ready! :)
Oh was going to say something about Peyton... several of you have asked how he was doing and I'm not sure what to say. Still have trouble getting him to eat, he's lost weight that he didn't have to lose:( Just the whole experience of being away from home and all the strangeness of it is a constant stress for him. He inherited his dad's terrible problem of canker sores and he's been dealing with that here which i'm sure is because of stress and which for sure doesn't help the eating problem. He's never far from tears and it has taken a lot of encouragement and praise and bolstering up to make it through the days with all of us in one piece, but over all I'm still glad we brought him and he will be glad he came! :) He has always been a 'home boy' and is at his prime at his house with his toys and his mama and daddy with him, so being in all this strangeness for so long has been tough on him, but he really has been quite a trooper with it all! He loves to ride the buses and already knows that when we go to awan we need the 208 or 204 bus and when we go to McDonalds we need the 255 etc.  He takes great responsibility in waving the right buses down and have even got a smile or two out of the bus drivers with his animation :) On the way home from the restaurant this afternoon we stopped at a sidewalk vendor for some bananas and she had a box of peanuts that he wanted so we told her we wanted 1/2 kilo and I noticed him hiding behind me when she was filling the bag motioning for her to put more in the bag HA He is very good at sign language thanks to a head start from Tanya days! :)
Time to go see our little pumpkins....

Still in Ukraine.....

Just imagine.  A long extended vacation in a foreign country. Awesome right?  I think I am starting to understand why the movie stars and idle rich do crazy things and crack up.  They don't have enough work to do! This is driving me nuts!

Oh well no need to complain about that.  We are still on the same twice a day orphanage schedule and the rest of the day just kind of molds itself around that.  Gotcha day should be October 14 so we are really looking forward to that.  Kody seems to recognize us and be comfortable with us so we are hoping the transition won't be too rough.

Our apartment here is quite nice.  It has its typical Ukrainian faults but its owned by a missionary (or something) from Canada so it has a somewhat western feel.  The most amazing thing here is the massive amount of trash everywhere.  If you see an area that is not littered up you know someone keeps it cleaned up because these people have no respect for that.  They throw down whatever wherever whenever.  I think it would help a little if there where trash cans around (another unheard of thing) but theres not.  On the flip side, a large army of city employees (?) keep the leaves cleaned up.  Faithfully.   Forget trying to figure it out.  I am certain the root of a lot of this countries problems lies in the lack of communal responsibility (our park our street our neighborhood etc).  Enough ranting on that now.  Steph's cooking has really gotten quite good.  Not like home but I bet our meals are the best food in Ukraine.   We traveled down to city center and got some burrito like things that they make from meat done on a sort of rotisserie at a road side stand.  We always go to the same one.  The guy knows a bit of English, smiles when he sees me and acts like he appreciates our business.  I can get 3 burritos there (plenty for a meal) for 51 UAH (3.92 USD).  They are quite good.

Enough rambling for now.  Goodnight to all!

Bill

Day #28

Wow did I really just write that? TWENTY EIGHT days we have been here already?! A lot of water has passed under the bridge in one month! :)
Wasn't a very good day yesterday with Kody:( He seemed like he was in pain and we had no idea if they had switched something up with his food or if he had a bug or what was going on, but you could hardly get a smile out of him and he just wanted to sleep. Finally this afternoon he was back to his happy self and just begging  for a reason to laugh :) It's so funny how he likes to laugh and especially if you lean him back and he can laugh and it makes gurgling sounds with his spit LOL
I haven't payed much attention to his coloring before but even Bill noticed that his clothes were his 'colors' yesterday! He had on fall or earthy colors and they really looked good on him.. cinnamon red hat, pine green shirt and pumpkin spice snowsuit. (Trust me I'm sure it was totally coincidence that they all happened to match!)  Do they ever have orange as an option to fill in for eye color? :) His orange snowsuit just matched his eyes, no wonder they didn't look blue or brown HA.
Was cloudy, windy and COLD today! Stayed inside for both visits today. This was the coldest day for the next 10 days so sure looking forward to some warmer, sunnier days.
Observed a first today... our bus driver passed up a man wanting a ride today because the bus was too full!!! In my opinion, at least by the 'feel' of things he could have gladly passed up the last 10 passengers, but was thankful he at least decided when he did that there simply wasn't room for one more!
We have been wishing for some souvenirs from here, but beings this is not a tourist city there isn't anything to be found. Our driver told us of one store that would have a few so walked to it this afternoon, but couldn't find anything. Guess we'll have to get some stuff from Kiev that says Ukraine and have all of our good memories fill in the blanks:)
Put a recipe of chicken and rice, one of the missionaries sent me, in the oven before we left to see Kody this eve. and guessed on this gas oven just right with the heat and timing and it was very tasty! So glad this oven has markings on the knobs AND a thermometer! Think I was baking way too hot with the other one. Put a peach cobbler in to bake while we took showers and then lazed in the living room in our pjs with the heater running, drinking coffee and eating warm peach cobbler! MMM doesn't that sound like the life of riley?! ;-) I told Bill the cobbler was even American good:)
I bought what I 'think' is going to be ground sausage and am going to make biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. Sure hope it doesn't ruin the gravy because I have been hungry for it for awhile and just haven't been having good luck with my sausage buying experiences! :( The last links I bought looked so good and first red flag was when I cut into mine and it had big white chunks of something in it... needless to say it tasted quite awful and really fishy, were the chunks fish? Don't think I'll be giving it a second chance to find out!

Day #26

Had a wonderful day yesterday... we moved to a LUXURIOUS apartment!! :) There's a Canadian man that has some kind of missionary project and lives in Kiev and also owns an apartment here in Kryvyi Rih that he rents out very cheap to missionary type people, adoptive parents etc. it is where Allen and Kristi were staying. They got there last piece of paperwork Friday and were heading to Kiev on Sunday and had told us earlier they would get us hooked up with owner so we could stay here when they left. They couldn't get train tickets out Sunday so ended up leaving Saturday. After our visit Saturday I made supper and we took it down to them and then helped watch Marina while they got around. Went home and finished packing up our stuff and then brought a load back and got keys before they left cause we weren't spending another night on that couch! :) AHHH this BED felt so good! My feet didn't hang out the end and had regular pillows and and and. Was good to get to know Allen's and have the interaction with other Americans while here! :) They are hoping to leave for Georgia Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
We are gong to save $350 by moving here and not only that it is bigger and SOO much nicer and CLEANER!!! Life just looks brighter :-)) The cleaning guy came today and he is just a HOOT! He's just a little simple and VERY animated! Ed Dickson (owner of apartment) is paying for him to learn English and he is so proud of it:) He had to show me his study book and all what he is learning. Can't help but like the guy, he's a little short guy with a high squeaky voice :) But boy can he clean!!! He was in the shower (BTW it is a huge tub with a shower, a real to honest shower!) just a scrubbing and wiping down every nook and cranny then he was darting around here and there rolling up the rugs, washing the floors on his hands and knees... We gave him a tip when he left and he did all kinds of jigs and bows and faces :)
Besides two visits with Kody and phoning in Bill's cousins wedding this eve. was a pretty non eventful day. Was beautiful outside! Was below freezing Thursday night/Friday morning so felt good to have some warm weather again! Just keep hoping we can make it without having to buy coats here! Getting pretty worried about getting everything in our luggage and home! :-/
Wishing you all a wonderful week! I know we will :) Finally getting used to the food and water and culture and all the differences and now that we can stay at a nicer apartment and Kody gets more used to us every day... Life Is Good!! :)
Good-Night

Court

Today was our big day, at least one of them:) Irina came on train and was here until court. Was going to make her some good ole southern cornbread and gravy for breakfast, but she had stopped and bought stuff for herself and then we had to leave earlier than we thought so didn't put her through the misery of pretending she liked it HA
She went through all the possible questions and how we should answer and things for sure not to say. She said depending on judge and how thorough they are and how many questions it could take from 1-3 hours, but she said the judge we were having is usually pretty quick and she thought it should only take an hour to hour and half.
I understood we had an appointment, but then when we got there she went and talked to judge and insinuated that the judge was just working us in so..?  At one point when we were waiting I noticed her hands were shaking and I asked her if she was nervous and she said always! :) She said every case is different and she never knows what question they might come up with and what the prosecutor and jury will be like etc. She said we had no need to worry because she was taking care of worrying for all of us :) We sat out in cold, block hallway and waited for about an hour and finally we heard the criminal case leaving and by the sounds of it it hadn't turned out like they had wanted it to! We go into the court room and I was quite shocked, Bill said it smelled just like the old school house in Geiger and quite frankly it wasn't in any better shape either! The old creaky wood floor had big pieces missing, the walls were block with lots of paint chipped off and.. you get the picture! But it served the purpose. As soon as the judge walked in she looked at Peyton and had a little conversation with Irina. Irina then told us that it was against the rules for children to be in the court room and she wanted Peyton to leave, but Irina had told her that she has been around him and that he is a very well behaved child and he would't cause any problems (cough-cough)and could he please be allowed to stay? The judge said if we could promise that he would not talk, absolutely not one word he could stay. We affirmed as sending up a prayer for intervention for as you all know your children always act up at the most inconvenient times and he is VERY sensitive if we are stressed! Wasn't worried about him talking, but sure wasn't promising he wouldn't cry, for sure if we would both be called up at the same time!! Our prayers were answered and he did very well!! The judge read us our rights and then read our petition, asked Bill why he wanted to adopt a child, told me that is said in the HS that I wanted a big family and wondered how many children I wanted? I had know idea it even said that in the homestudy, but for some reason it made her smile :) She asked Irina a couple questions and asked our lawyer and the inspector what they thought, and of course they had glowing reports of how we have bonded so well with Kody, and are such a wonderful family and it was definitely in Kody's best interest for us to adopt him. I wonder if they ever say anything different or if it's always the same little memorized lines?:)
The judge then asked if anyone had any questions and after everyone said no they dismissed themselves for deliberations! Irina just gasped and whispered I can't believe this!!! This is quicker than I have ever experienced! I told her we were OK with that ;-) I think we were all done and walking out in 20 minutes! YAY
They came back in and said they are granting our petition to adopt Eugene and he is now
Kody Eugene Nichols!!!!! 
The tears just can't be held back any longer! :)
Before we left Irina went and talked to judge (btw her name was Tanya, Pey thought that was cool:) and thanked her for being so easy and quick with us. She wanted to know why we had ever brought Peyton with us to Ukraine, she wondered if we didn't have any babushkas at home? :) Irina told her it was different culture and the grandmas aren't as responsible for the kids in America and that we had WANTED to bring him with us. She said she was moving to America:) She leaves tomorrow for a month vacation and she said it will be her children's vacation because her whole time will be spent taking care of grandchildren!
Got back in time for our morning visit and even Kody knew it was a happy day, as soon as he saw me he smiled great big and then threw his head back and just screeched!!! The nanny just looked at him and then me and kinda shrugged and smiled as Kody just giggled! I'll just admit right up front that I'm head over heels in love with that little sweetheart already!! He's such a keeper!!! :-))
Nothing else out of the ordinary the rest of the day... took Pey to the park for awhile, took a walk, bought Kody his first 3 outfits and then took them to visit this eve and tried them on him, looks like he's going to be true to size, the 6 month fit just perfect and 6-9 has a little room to grow.
Oh remember the other day I talked about having fits with his paci? I asked Irina where I could find one like they use there and she just laughed! She said I wouldn't be finding any because they are from Soviet days!! :-O No wonder I couldn't find any LOL She also had the comforting words of saying the bottles they use are also from Soviet and can't find any nipples like that! :(( I think were in for some tearful eating and 'other' times!! Would it help to go to bed right now and store up some extra sleep ;-)
Had our missed cornbread and gravy for supper, fried hash browns and some sausage patties. Well they were suppose to be sausage patties, but since the wrapping wasn't clear and I couldn't read anything on the pkg besides kobaca it turned out to be something between bologna and weiner! :) I cut it in slices and fried it in a pan. Beings i'm not a meat lover to begin with I generously left my portions for the others! ;-) Peyton proclaimed  it good so must have not tasted too bad HA

Court Date!

Irina called today and said we are set to have court this Friday! When she first told us it was a possibility we just kinda expected it to happen, because the team has made everything happen so far that they have tried, but the longer it was taking we started getting a little worried and then we started feeling like it would be quite something if we actually pulled it off so when she called today and said Serge pulled the impossible again we were quite thankful and decided we were taking this team way to much for granted and it isn't normal to get things so quick and easy!!
Both visits with Kody were good today, we're feeling a lot more comfortable with him and he with us! He always gives us big grins when the nannies bring him down:) Told Bill today it will make it even better when we actually have him 24/7 and know his schedule etc. etc. now we don't know anything about his day, if he just woke up, is hungry or what?!
Bought the third paci today hoping third would be a charm, but NOPE spit it out faster than it went in! Was pretty persistence with him today and he would spit and wrinkle up his face and gag and make quite a production of it, but decided it just wasn't going to work! :) Might have to be finding out where the orphanage gets their horrid ones from! Have never seen any like it before, not even here :/
He never shows any emotion to the nannies and now yesterday he had one we have never seen and when she brought him down she gave me a big smile and then after I took Kody she talked to him and pinched his cheeks and he gave her a big grin! It felt like she truly cared! Another brownie point she made was she told me to just carry Kody outside instead of putting him in the 'trolley'. The other nannies all make a big production of putting him in this big stroller that he has to lie down in and cover him all up with this huge blanket etc. etc. #1 he HATES to lie down and for sure when I'm standing there looking at him and he wants to be held, #2 the trolley is hard to maneuver and then we have to go through all these door jams around tight corners through doors, down steps etc. but before when I asked if I could just carry him they looked at me like I lost my mind and emphatically put him in the stroller and made a big deal out of smothering  covering the poor child up. So knowing this nannie  actually 'got it' made my day!:)
There are two ladies in the business office where we always go to tell them we are there. One is an older lady and one is a real young girl, they are both friendly and nice so the other morning I made banana bread and took them some warm out of the oven on our morning visit and it was so worth just for the reaction! The older lady was on the phone and just smiled and mouthed spaciba, but the younger one was out of the office and soon she came and was very dramatic and gave me a big hug and kiss and the whole nine yards and then about five minutes later she came back and went on and on about how she had tried some and it was so good and that was so sweet of me etc. ETC. Felt so good to be thanked in this thankless country! My second 'feel good' experience happened today when I walked down to our medium market for a few groceries and spotted a neat little toy in the window so went inside to see how much it was, couldn't find the price so went in to ask and a lady comes scurrying from the back with a big smile on her face and started talking quite good English. She told me I would really like that toy because it would talk Russian and English:) She asked me where I was from and several more questions and then she said I know your boy and pulled her eyes all squinty for Asian LOL I told her yes that was my boy! :) She told me thanks for coming in her store and nice to meet you!!! WOW It's just amazing how good it feels to feel like your appreciated!
It feels like the the cold weather isn't going to wait till the weekend.. at our visit this eve it was already getting pretty chilly outside and now that the sun has gone down it's right nippy out there.
I'm sad to report my beautiful roses are past there prime already:( Maybe that's the difference in $10 versus $70 or whatever they are in the states, guess i've never bought a dozen roses HA but am quite sure there more than $10!
FYI all meals turned out better than just edible today :) Pizza, veggies and dip for dinner, chicken pot pie over biscuits and apple salad for supper. I'm very sad that my clothes are getting tight while here :((( This food is NEAR good enough to be worth gaining weight over!! I think that is the problem you never quite feel satisfied and so you end up eating all the time :((( I've heard mothers complain about their figure after they've had a baby and then they always tack on the end while looking all starry eyed into their newborns face, but you are so worth every extra pound!! You think I can borrow that excuse? ;-)
Better quit before I give you any more TMI!

Day #20

Seems like life here has kinda got into a routine and not a lot of exciting things to report anymore!
Yesterday Had our normal two visits with Kody and he was extra happy and sweet both times:) We invited our Georgia friends over for evening. We are both on the same schedule with visiting hours at orphanage, but they have about a 20 minute bus ride back so gave me a few minutes to come home and stir up some choc. chip m&m cookies (I did find a very small, like 1/2c. of choc. chips in store for $4!) , and some chicken salad made from my last can of chicken from home:( won't someone please email me some more?:) and I had found some red leaf lettuce to put in them. I had picked up some croissant rolls from the pizza restaurant down the street so they made quite a yummy little sandwich if I may say so myself! Called in Geiger's church service and then had snacks plus didn't think we could have Sunday eve snacks without popcorn and pop so added that to the menu yet. Was glad they had come and spent the evening, is good to talk to others in English and broaden our horizons a little!
Today we had a beautiful day! Suppose to be in the 70's tomorrow!! But just that fast gonna get cold, like in the 30's by the end of the week, brrrr.
Took Kody outside on both visits again. I'm quite convinced Kody is truly recognizing us now. He smiles great big as soon as he sees us and shows other signs that he views us as more than just another stranger. Does a mother's heart good! :) He shows his emotions with his feet, when he gets excited or sad he always starts kicking violently HA They always send him out with a paci, but it is so old and gross and dirty that I bought him a new one and tried giving it to him today and he was NOT impressed! Never could get him to take it:( If he doesn't have his paci he will suck his thumb(s) and with our experience with Peyton we are quite determined not to let him get attached to his thumb! I bought a little bigger one today and it's latex like the one he has so we will see if we have any luck with that tomorrow.
After our visit this eve. we took the bus down to a restaurant we had spotted last week. OK so it was in the mall that has my grocery store in it, but this was Bill's idea so I didn't have a choice but to go along and then when we were in the same building just couldn't resist to go down and get a few luxuries, like colby jack cheese:) The restaurant was half Asian and half Italian. Bill had a some sort of beef ribs in a sweet n sour/soy sauce and little rice balls deep fat fried. The rice balls were very good and he said the meat was also. I got Pey lasagna, which was so-so and a skillet dish for me off the Italian menu with chicken, potatoes, tomatoes and black olives and then it had a mayo dipping sauce. I thought it was some of the better food I have had at a restaurant here!
Ran into  Allen & Kristi at the mall, but they were eating at the most Americanized restaurant there:) They don't like to be very adventurous HA BTW if you want to see the little girl they are adopting go to Reece's Rainbow and type in Cox family in the search box and it tells their story.
Talking about looking up children.. I found this the other day on precious.org I think you have to log in to read his description. One of the nannies was out pushing him this afternoon and I stopped and talked to him for a second. It really makes you have mixed feelings about the whole deal! In one way I feel like we took away his chance at a family by turning him down, but I keep thinking surely the right family will still adopt him!!

Day #18

Here are some questions that have been asked so will answer on here in case anyone else is wondering...

1. What is your apartment like? Hate to answer that one:( Because of all the refugees that have moved here there are no apartments available for rent so we only have this one through connections. The man is security/maintenance at the orphanage and the lady is one of the cooks. The apartment complex is next building to orphanage so is very nice that we don't have to take public transportation every day! This couple moved in with her folks so we could rent this apartment so you can imagine about what it is like to live in someone else 'house' with all of there stuff, and believe me they have 'stuff'! They love stuffed animals, every shelf and nook and cranny has a stuff animal and all the big ones have on a pair of sunglasses! The apartment is not new and cleaning is not her specialty and you can fill in the gaps ;-) I did find some cameo like cleaner and will say after that afternoon in the kitchen the silverware has turned from golden back to silver and there seems to be a lot more shine around:)  You walk in the front and there is a narrow hall across the front. One the one end is a very small bedroom with a hide-a-bed and a computer desk, and of course all the stuffed animals. In the middle is the living room with 2 hide-a-beds, coffee table and chair, and of course all the stuffed animals. On the far left end is the 'bath'room with a small washer, and big porcelain tub and NO stuffed animals. Next in its own room is the toilet, and we can flush the tp!! Biggest plus of this apartment :) No room for any stuffed animals in this room. Then on the same side, in the back is the kitchen. Along the one wall is the very small, one basin sink, gas stove, small counterspace and then the fridge. The back wall is 2 windows. Along the other wall is a very small table with a bench along it. Bill says it is around 800 sq ft. which is hard for me to believe, but I guess it seems smaller because it is a whole bunch of little rooms and no open space. 
2. Do you have a washer and dryer? Yes we have a washer, very small, but it does wash good and since I have found some better detergent the clothes even come out smelling clean now:) Dryer? Yes. Looks a little different than what I'm used to, but it does dry clothes. It is metal and on a stand and has about 8 strands across it to hang clothes over:) We were in a large appliance store looking around and they had rows and rows of washers, but not the first dryer! Not sure they exist in this country and don't know why they don't?
3. What does the orphanage look like? It is a 2 story building and is very hard to explain the inside. It is quite cheery, but very sterile and institutional at the same time! Each room is painted a bright cheery color and they have things sitting/hanging around, but yet you almost feel like you are in a funeral home when you are there. You can here babies crying and children talking on the top floor behind closed doors, but downstairs there are always people coming and going in there white labcoats, with serious looks on there faces and walking with a mission! It's SO soviet there! When we get there we go to the  office and tell the secretary/receptionist? we are there and then she goes and tells one of the nannies and then they go and do I don't know what all to Kody before finally bringing him down.  There are always ladies walking back and forth and upstairs carrying big pots of food. What would be wrong with putting ALL the food on a cart and one lady pushing it to wear it goes and it only taking ONE trip?? One can just imagine all kinds of ways to make life a little easier and involving far fewer people and less time, but guess that's just there way!
4. What kind of food can you get in restaurants? Lots of pasta type food, like vereniki. Pizza and sushi would be equivalent to hamburgers at home. One food we have found that we like is a sausage dog. They take a hotdog bun and grill it in a george foreman type griddle and then open it up and squirt mayo/ketchup inside and stuff a sausage in it. Very good. Love what it does to the bun...crunchy on the outside, soft inside plus leaves those cool grill marks on it:) Try it! Makes it so easy to eat also. The pizza restaurant we have close here is OK, but it just has that 'off' taste and they always load the top with some green herb, looks like clover, never tasted it before, but sure doesn't improve the pizza any! 
5. How is the paperwork coming? We are waiting on a paper from the SDA and it was turned in several days ago. If we can get it next week, which our team feels like it is quite likely then we will have court on Oct. 2nd or 3rd. If we don't we have to apply for a different judge, because the one we were assigned goes on vacation for a month on the 4th so that will delay us 1-11/2 weeks. After court we have a 10 day appeal period. The first business day after that we can get Kody from orphanage! :))) It takes around a week here in region to get birth certificate and another document I can't remember right now and then we go back to Kiev and get visa and passport which takes another week and then Lord willing we will be ready to head for Alabama!!! (Home is looking better and better!) :) That puts us at end of October first of November. Bill is still kicking around coming home over the 10 day appeal period, but think Pey and I will stay if he decides he needs to.
6. Will we get to see Tanya (our host girl) while we are her? We are planning on it! Probably will go out to her orphanage when we are back in Kiev for that week. 
7. What really is wrong with Kody and how serious is his heart condition? His original diagnosis was... hole in the heart, hip displasia, gross motor delay and HIV. His hole has closed on it's own and should require nothing more. We will of course get him checked out when we get home to make sure, but it is quite common for it to close on it's own so we are not doubting it at this point. Hip displasia wasn't mentioned when we had his detailed, updated report translated at orphanage and we had read up on it and when we watched the Dr. give him his exam we couldn't detect any of the signs or symptoms of it so thinking that was a diagnosis they stuck on his chart. Gross motor delay? This was diagnosed at one month old so not exactly sure what you would look for to be able to diagnosis this?! :) We can def tell he has the usual signs of orphanage delay though. His head is very flat in the back and all his hair rubbed off, telling us he has spent way more time laying on his back than I care to even think about. He is very week in his legs, will hardly stand up on his own when we hold his hands, but it is already amazing the diff we have seen just this week! He is the very happiest if you hold him up and let him jump! I've already been looking for a jolly jumper, but haven't found one yet. The first day he could hardly push with his legs and now today he stood for awhile on his own and is getting alot more resistance when he kicks against you. I'm sad to say that I could count on one hand the times he has been held up and able to 'use' his legs! :( You just can't let yet your mind go down those avenues and especially when it's your child! I don't get the feeling that they are mistreated, they just don't have the one on one and extra love and attention that they so badly need!! HIV has been confirmed twice that it is negative. Only positive antibodies just like daddy(Bill) :) Which makes me think of the Ukrainian lady that was wanting to adopt him... Our facilitator said they day she came in to visit him she didn't want to hold him and finally took him and held him way away from her and quick put him in the stroller and Irina was sure it was because she thought he had HIV, because she only had received the original file and not the detailed, updated one at the orphanage. Ukrainians supposedly believe HIV is very contagious and can be caught by contact! Which also reminds me that I never said that we only found out later how much of a miracle and answer to prayer Kody really was! This lady called as soon as the office opened Monday and told them she had decided she wanted to adopt him!! The inspector knew this ladies boss and so she called her and asked her about this lady, because she seemed so strange to everyone and I guess her boss was quite alarmed that she was trying to adopt saying that she was not in a good stage in life to be adopting. The boss said she wanted to talk to her about it. The lady calls back at noon and said she was having second thoughts and needed more time to think about it, and this my dear friends is where our prayers and yours were undoubtedly answered, she called back at three and said she had changed her mind and she didn't want to adopt him after all!!!! We had no idea this was all going on as we worried and prayed and waited that LOOOOONG Monday! 
It seems like there were a few more questions some of you have asked, but can't remember them now. Ask again and I'll answer them:)
P.S. Was hungry for some of those cinnamon raisin biscuits kind of like you can get at Hardees this morning for breakfast, but couldn't seem to find a recipe that looked right. Then tonight made chili and you can't have chili without cinnamon rolls can you?:) Well was a little hard to find a recipe without baking powder or crisco , but finally did and wow were they ever good! Sure didn't taste like any cinnamon roll I've ever had, but... they did taste exactly like the biscuits I was hungry for for breakfast!! :) Blessing in disguise HA
How brave can I be with my cooking? We met up with the Georgia couple down at the market this eve. and then went and hung out at there apartment for awhile so was thinking about inviting them over here for dinner tomorrow, but.... you just never know what might come out of the oven!! :) I wanted to have a good ole Sunday dinner so bought a pork roast today, but will it taste good?, and I still haven't figured this gas oven out, how long shall I bake it and the last 11/2 hours we will be gone so can't check it , and I don't have much to season it with! Have some potatoes I can do something with and some apples for some fried apples and some of that good french bread (and we have some of that GOOD tasting butter to go on it! :) and what could I make for dessert? Any ideas?? We won't get back from our visit till 1 so it needs to be something I can make ahead..  Let me know and I'll pick from the best sounding suggestion in the morning! ;-) Which BTW it IS almost morning here... off to bed I go!

Day #17

Happy's of the day...

1. Kody smiled when he saw us this morning! We aren't accepting the possibility that it was coincidence :)

2. Bill surprised me with a huge, beautiful bouquet of a dozen red roses! He said he thought all good husbands got there wife flowers when they had a baby :)

3. It was a gorgeous day again!

4. All 3 meals were edible today!

5. Peyton was happy and almost his old, carefree self all day!

6. Went to my favorite new supermarket again!

7. Found butter that tasted like REAL butter and not stale, used grease!

8. We were able to take Kody outside and he LOVED it! Ladies, you aren't dressing your babies warm enough, they had Kody in FIVE layers of clothes, plus his snow suit and hat! And remember I said it was a nice day, like wouldn't need a jacket nice! :)

9. They fixed our internet last night!

10. Got to talk to the twin boys family last night that live next floor down from us. They are 14 months and so cute and sweet!

Day #16

Got around fairly early this morning and took the bus down to a large supermarket we have been wanting to go to since we came. It's several miles so decided to save our legs, plus didn't like the lack of warmth outside this morning either:( We were in for quite a shock when we got there!! It is a huge building with a whole bunch of stores inside with one of them being this supermarket. And it was absolutely wonderful!! It was the closest thing to a Wal-mart that I think Ukraine has to offer:) We just walked around in a daze... It was clean, bright, new looking and even smelled like an American store! We were there to early for the 'mall' stores to be open, but they looked like they would be fun to shop in as well. It was getting late on us so went by there deli and got a rotisserie chicken and potato wedges for our dinner. The 208 bus stops right across the road from the supermarket and then just down the road from our apartment so is good connections and only cost 4 UAH per person (aprox 13 UAH= $1) Me thinks I will be a loyal customer of that little gem! :)
Quick ate our dinner and then headed to see Kody. He was in a chipper mood this morning:) They came and got him early for some reason and beings our Russian would quickly get us in a bind we didn't ask any questions as to why.
Just relaxed at apartment this afternoon then back to orphanage at 4. Went around by way of pharmacy and picked up some more little blue shoe covers that we are required to wear at orphanage. There has been a Ukrainian couple on the same visiting schedule as us, and yes usually in the same room which makes it kinda awkward. So this afternoon I tried to talk to them, they are adopting a 21/2 month old girl.
We usually take Kody to the big area rug in the middle and let him lay on his tummy (getting in that tummy time trying to strengthen core muscles:) Now yesterday the nurse came in and scolded us and told us we have to stay sitting on the chairs or standing up, because it is way to cold to have him on the floor ARRRG He is so bundled up and wet with sweat the poor child would love to have a little cool air for once! So now we kind of run out of things to do to try and entertain a 6 month old for 3 hours a day with nothing to do but hold him and then we have this other little 'problem' which demands quite a bit of attention! :) He is doing pretty good with it all and loves Kody to pieces and is already very protective of him, but he is def having some adjustments :(
One of the dear missionaries from here sent me some recipes to try and tips of what to look for when buying groceries so made her recipe of meatloaf tonight along with baked potatoes, cucumbers with my homeade ranch that taste much more like cucumber dressing than it did ranch, and some toasted garlic bread with some SOFT, fresh french bread I found at supermarket this morning. Wow that was quite the feast for us Ukrainians:) Full course meal let me tell you!
We have been having fits with internet last couple days, off one hour and on the next, but never sure for how long so not sure I will get this to send tonight or not.

Day #15

Not a lot to report on today. Went to bed late last night so slept in this morning since we didn't have anything on the agenda till 11:30. Made an early lunch of Mexican corn chowder and bread since it was winter weather today! Was such a nasty day:( It was a typical Alabama winter day.. cold, rainy and breezy! The soup turned out fairly good even though it was lacking quite a few ingredients that would have made it better:)
Found out Kody has different visiting hours since he is in the youngest group. 11:30-1 and again from 4:30-6. He was in good mood again this morning and wasn't long and he wanted to just cuddle in and go to sleep:) Would so love to know what all goes through his little mind, he has so many expressions go over his face!
Bill ordered sweet n sour chicken for supper so we decided to brave the weather and go get the ingredients. We got chilled to the bone and quite wet, but what else did we have to do this afternoon than change clothes and warm up?:) The other day we found an upscale grocery store (at least for here HA) right behind the one we had been going to. It has most of the lights burning and seems so bright and clean! Its prices are more expensive, but it has a lot more variety than we have found anywhere else. Found enough stuff that I thought it would work for the sweet n sour chicken. Found a head of what looked like romaine lettuce, but the price should have caused red flags.. $.30 for the head:) Found some dill and parsley so attempted to make some homeade ranch and have a lettuce salad. Still don't know what the 'lettuce' was, it tasted just like cauliflower! and the ranch well.. it wasn't bad tasting, but sure didn't taste like ranch either. I would be discouraged with cooking, but it still tastes better than anything we can get in the restaurants around here, so.... I try to be a sport and accept that it just won't be delicious! I did finally find a sort of measure cup today so that will help some.
Of course went to evening visit at 4:30. They told us he had a medical examination and wouldn't be back for 10 minutes. She said not to worry he wasn't sick just examination. Wouldn't think they would bother with him being so close to adopted. 10 minutes ended up being quite a bit longer, but they finally brought him in. He was super happy and cooed and laughed for awhile and then all of a sudden he got fussy and wan't himself most of the rest of the time. Not sure if he got shots at the Dr. or what his problem was. Feels like our time is so limited with him I want him to always be in a good mood! :) Hoping for our happy little boy back tomorrow.

Another Day in Ukraine

This morning Irina (our facilitator) got here on the morning train at 6 and hung out at the apartment till the day officially starts at 9. Its chilly, breezy, cloudy and raining off and on all day.  Then we all went to the orphanage and signed some papers then on to the notary.  After that was done we all rode along and waited in the car while Irina filed papers for court.  Not sure yet what will happen with that.  The judge we were assigned goes on vacation October 3 for a month and our projected court date is October 14.  Irina just called all excited and something or other got done quicker than expected so now she thinks maybe she can get everything done and have court by October 2.  They are working the connections so we will see what comes of that.  I don't believe these people use bribery to make things happen but they do seem to have a limitless network of connections.  We got back to the orphanage at 12:30 (visiting hours 11:30-1 and 4-6 approximately) so we got to spend a few minutes with Kody.  Back to the apartment for a few hours and a bite of lunch and we were back at the orphanage at 4.  Kody seems to be a little nervous of us and wasn't near so animated as when the orphanage director had him.  I'm sure we are very strange all the way down to the way we talk and smell.  Steph held him most of the time and at the end he fell asleep in her arms.  She thought that was pretty special.  We ran down the the local grocery store and got some ingredients for supper.  Steph is making french bread (brave lady, eh?) and me and PJ are just vegetating.  If you want to see where we are here look up

Vasylevs'koho Blvd, 27

Kryvyi Rih

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

on google maps.

Till later

Bill