Today was our sweet Clare bear's second birthday. We were hoping it would also be gotcha day but that will be tomorrow (my granddaughter's 1st birthday!).
It has been a real treat showing my mom and Madison around our city and letting them meet all the nannies.
We got to see Malachi's great grandma again today for her to say her final goodbyes. It was very sad but also wonderful to see how much he is loved. We also got to find out that when he had heart surgery when he was 8 months old that his grandma went with him. That had been on my mind, wondering if my little guy had to go through that all by himself. I'm glad to know he was loved on during that time.
Yesterday we went to a puppet theater and got to see a very cute children's show. Then after that, our sweet friends took us to a mall that had an ice skating rink and a bowling alley. We played ping pong at the bowling alley and laughed so hard, it was great.
Starting tomorrow we get to have our kids and start the real process of getting them home.
Please pray that our embassy appointments go well. There was paperwork we didn't realize that we needed that Mel had to send. Hopefully it is the right stuff and nothing additional is needed from him.
If everything goes well we should be landing at Dulles on Thursday at 2:45.
Here we go...
About Me
- Erika Rogers
- I am a Christ loving, homeschooling mom who has a wonderful crazy life. I have a husband I passionately love and 11 incredible kids. Trying to live a healthy lifestyle and help others do the same.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
My Birthday in U
Today was my birthday, and it went great! It would have been better if my honey was here and we busted our kids out but it was still great. I got to love on my kids and go shopping at the open market. I had a wonderful 4 hour birthday dinner with awesome friends in a beautiful traditional restaurant.
The very best part will be that we get our "Gotcha Day" on Clare's 2nd birthday!
With Malachi, he is learning to like Mama, mostly because I'm the one who carries the cookies in my purse. However, he will always be Papa's boy. I showed Malachi pictures of his Papa on my camera and he would kiss it over and over.
Hopefully he will see his Papa soon and we can share all the wonderful miracles that have happened through this process.
Hopefully we will leave our region on Monday and get to go home on Thursday. We have learned that anything can happen in this process, so we are trying to be flexable.
The very best part will be that we get our "Gotcha Day" on Clare's 2nd birthday!
With Malachi, he is learning to like Mama, mostly because I'm the one who carries the cookies in my purse. However, he will always be Papa's boy. I showed Malachi pictures of his Papa on my camera and he would kiss it over and over.
 |
| Trying to call Papa |
Hopefully he will see his Papa soon and we can share all the wonderful miracles that have happened through this process.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A Post for Erika
Hello All,
Well Erika, Madison and Debbie (AKA Nammie) arrived safely in Kiev on Saturday evening and left for the orphanage the next day. All is well and despite Erika's suspicions to the contrary, she didn't have to show Malachi a picture of me in order to get him to cooperate. It seems that he likes the Momma after all. Unfortunately we are once again having challenges with our phone so Erika is unable to send or receive calls. Fortunately Debbie's new I-Phone is able to send texts, and today's said that birth certificates are in hand. Friday may be the last day that our kids have to spend in the orphanage. I know that Erika is working on getting another modem so hopefully she will be posting herself soon.
As soon as we have the return itenerary one of us will post it.
Please continue to pray in support of Erika and the kids.
Mel
Well Erika, Madison and Debbie (AKA Nammie) arrived safely in Kiev on Saturday evening and left for the orphanage the next day. All is well and despite Erika's suspicions to the contrary, she didn't have to show Malachi a picture of me in order to get him to cooperate. It seems that he likes the Momma after all. Unfortunately we are once again having challenges with our phone so Erika is unable to send or receive calls. Fortunately Debbie's new I-Phone is able to send texts, and today's said that birth certificates are in hand. Friday may be the last day that our kids have to spend in the orphanage. I know that Erika is working on getting another modem so hopefully she will be posting herself soon.
As soon as we have the return itenerary one of us will post it.
Please continue to pray in support of Erika and the kids.
Mel
Monday, October 17, 2011
We Got 'Em
I know it has been a few days since my last post and I left everyone hanging. My excuse... I got sick.
Court went wonderful. I think it even surprised Luda how fast and easy everything went. We had time to take one picture before grabbing a taxi heading to the train station getting to Kiev in time to get 4 hours sleep before getting on our plane home. So I guess that's my other excuse.
We made some wonderful friends while in our region and am looking forward to my mom and Madison meeting them. We were promised we would recieve a Master Borsht Soup making class when we return, yummy!
Our last day with the kids was wonderful. The nannies let us stay inside and play with all the kids which was great. There was a little girl who was very low functioning that fell in love with Mel. She came over to sit by him and he got a ball to try and play with her. They started throwing the ball back and forth to each other for about 30 min. The nannies looked on in amazement. From what we understand that really was the first time she purposely interacted and played with something so lond. Our hearts are now so burdened to find these children homes.
We felt the favor of God all through out, so we were very unprepared for the devil's attacks when we got home. I had been feeling a little sick the last few days there and when we got home I got a migraine so bad, I told Mel I might want to go to the hospital. I managed to fall a sleep for a while so the hospital was not needed. I still am hurting in my back very badly and am hoping to be able to get into the Chiropractor before I leave again.
Thanks for sticking with me on this.
Court went wonderful. I think it even surprised Luda how fast and easy everything went. We had time to take one picture before grabbing a taxi heading to the train station getting to Kiev in time to get 4 hours sleep before getting on our plane home. So I guess that's my other excuse.
We made some wonderful friends while in our region and am looking forward to my mom and Madison meeting them. We were promised we would recieve a Master Borsht Soup making class when we return, yummy!
Our last day with the kids was wonderful. The nannies let us stay inside and play with all the kids which was great. There was a little girl who was very low functioning that fell in love with Mel. She came over to sit by him and he got a ball to try and play with her. They started throwing the ball back and forth to each other for about 30 min. The nannies looked on in amazement. From what we understand that really was the first time she purposely interacted and played with something so lond. Our hearts are now so burdened to find these children homes.
We felt the favor of God all through out, so we were very unprepared for the devil's attacks when we got home. I had been feeling a little sick the last few days there and when we got home I got a migraine so bad, I told Mel I might want to go to the hospital. I managed to fall a sleep for a while so the hospital was not needed. I still am hurting in my back very badly and am hoping to be able to get into the Chiropractor before I leave again.
Thanks for sticking with me on this.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Court
Well, tomorrow is one of the big days we have been waiting for. We have court Wednesday at 3:30pm! Then we get to rush to the train, head to Kiev and get on a plane home Thursay at 6:45am.
I can not wait to see all of my smiling little faces when we get off the airplane in DC. I'm glad we have a king size bed, because I'm sure there will be some little people sneaking in our bed in the middle of the night ( and I can't wait!!).
When we got here, all the nanny's usually try to send us outside to play with our kids instead of play inside with the other kids. Mel and I always thought, "What could it hurt? Why can't we play with the other kids too?" Then we had some bad wheather and the nice nanny's let us play inside. I have answered the question " What could it hurt?" Me is the answer. All the children are so precious and my heart is breaking into a thousand little pieces knowing I can't take them all.
I am thankful that it is a nice orphanage with a director and nanny's who really seem to care. The children are well fed and each groupa has a nice little playroom. But it's not a family.
I will be coming back with my mom and Madison for the pick up trip. I am looking forward to seeing my mom's reaction to her new grandchildren. She is a special education teacher, so it might be hard to pry her out of the groupa because she will want to leave lesson plans for the nanny's. :-)
With Madison, I'm going to have to frisk her daily to make sure she hasn't snuck one of the other kids out of the orphanage also. My husband likes to joke that I'm Rumplestilskin and she is Rumpy Jr. How could I blame her, they are all so adorable you just want to squeeze them.
I really am overwhelmed with all the love that has been shown us both here and at home.
How could we ever do this without you?
I can not wait to see all of my smiling little faces when we get off the airplane in DC. I'm glad we have a king size bed, because I'm sure there will be some little people sneaking in our bed in the middle of the night ( and I can't wait!!).
When we got here, all the nanny's usually try to send us outside to play with our kids instead of play inside with the other kids. Mel and I always thought, "What could it hurt? Why can't we play with the other kids too?" Then we had some bad wheather and the nice nanny's let us play inside. I have answered the question " What could it hurt?" Me is the answer. All the children are so precious and my heart is breaking into a thousand little pieces knowing I can't take them all.
I am thankful that it is a nice orphanage with a director and nanny's who really seem to care. The children are well fed and each groupa has a nice little playroom. But it's not a family.
I will be coming back with my mom and Madison for the pick up trip. I am looking forward to seeing my mom's reaction to her new grandchildren. She is a special education teacher, so it might be hard to pry her out of the groupa because she will want to leave lesson plans for the nanny's. :-)
With Madison, I'm going to have to frisk her daily to make sure she hasn't snuck one of the other kids out of the orphanage also. My husband likes to joke that I'm Rumplestilskin and she is Rumpy Jr. How could I blame her, they are all so adorable you just want to squeeze them.
I really am overwhelmed with all the love that has been shown us both here and at home.
How could we ever do this without you?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Our Daily Routine
I thought I would give everyone an idea of how we spend our day.
We wake up and have breakfast in the apartment.
Jump on the tram for our morning visit.
Spend 2 hours with the kiddos.
Jump the tram back downtown.
Have lunch in a cafe.
Go back to the apartment and read, nap or get on the computer or walk around town.
Get on the tram again for our afternoon visit.
Spend 2 hours with the kids.
Get on the tram back downtown.
Eat dinner at some cafe.
Talk to the kids at home.
Go to bed.
As you can see we spend alot of time on the tram or eating. We don't really like spending to much time in the apartment because it is too quiet. We are used to a loud crazy house and the quiet apartment makes us miss the kids. The apartment is great though, it is right down town next to all the city center things like the mall, lots of cafes and beautiful museums and monuments. It is however right by the tram, so every time it goes by it feels like a mini earthquake! That took a day to get used to.
The town if very safe and almost feels Parisan. At night dinner is at an outdoor cafe and people are walking everywhere.
The tram is very easy and cheap. For Mel and I to ride 4 times a day it only cost 10 grivna which is about $1.25 total.
Eating out is also very inexpensive. For us to eat lunch at a cafe, it's only about $12 USD for our meal, drink and tip.
In city center by one of our favorite cafe's is the Slavic War Memorial.
We have gotten to visit Pirogov's museum and tomb, who was a famous Russian scientist and doctor.
A chocolate maker, Roshen, has a beautiful fountain in front of their office building and they do an amazing laser light show on the weekends that we got to see.
We definately are ready to go home though. We miss the kids at home and are ready for Malachi and Clare to get to play with them and have freedom to take them where ever we want and let them go play in the dirt.
We can not wait to get Malachi a nerf gun and let Matthew and John show him how to go "hunting" in the yard. Or to put Clare's hair up in a pretty bow and learn how to play dolls with her sisiter's.
This has been such an amazing experience that we will treasure always and hopefully be able to tell Clare and Malachi about their home country when they are older.
OK, off to jump on the tram again.
We wake up and have breakfast in the apartment.
Jump on the tram for our morning visit.
Spend 2 hours with the kiddos.
Jump the tram back downtown.
Have lunch in a cafe.
Go back to the apartment and read, nap or get on the computer or walk around town.
Get on the tram again for our afternoon visit.
Spend 2 hours with the kids.
Get on the tram back downtown.
Eat dinner at some cafe.
Talk to the kids at home.
Go to bed.
As you can see we spend alot of time on the tram or eating. We don't really like spending to much time in the apartment because it is too quiet. We are used to a loud crazy house and the quiet apartment makes us miss the kids. The apartment is great though, it is right down town next to all the city center things like the mall, lots of cafes and beautiful museums and monuments. It is however right by the tram, so every time it goes by it feels like a mini earthquake! That took a day to get used to.
The town if very safe and almost feels Parisan. At night dinner is at an outdoor cafe and people are walking everywhere.
The tram is very easy and cheap. For Mel and I to ride 4 times a day it only cost 10 grivna which is about $1.25 total.
Eating out is also very inexpensive. For us to eat lunch at a cafe, it's only about $12 USD for our meal, drink and tip.
In city center by one of our favorite cafe's is the Slavic War Memorial.
We have gotten to visit Pirogov's museum and tomb, who was a famous Russian scientist and doctor.
A chocolate maker, Roshen, has a beautiful fountain in front of their office building and they do an amazing laser light show on the weekends that we got to see.
We definately are ready to go home though. We miss the kids at home and are ready for Malachi and Clare to get to play with them and have freedom to take them where ever we want and let them go play in the dirt.
We can not wait to get Malachi a nerf gun and let Matthew and John show him how to go "hunting" in the yard. Or to put Clare's hair up in a pretty bow and learn how to play dolls with her sisiter's.
This has been such an amazing experience that we will treasure always and hopefully be able to tell Clare and Malachi about their home country when they are older.
OK, off to jump on the tram again.
The Babushka's
We have been so blessed to get to meet Malachi's grandma and great-grandma. They heard he was being adopted and wanted to say goodbye. They both have tried to visit him every so often since he was born and brought to the orphanage. We saw them three days ago and gave them a picture of our family to keep and they both were so happy for him they couldn't stop crying.
Today during our visit, grandma came by again with presents for Malachi to give to his new brothers and sisters. She is just precious and so happy for him. She kept pointing at him and us saying "Papa" and "Mama".
She gave us a beautiful card and it had her address on it so we could send her pictures of him as he grows.
God is so good to us. It just made our hearts so happy to know he was/is loved and they truly want him to have a better life.
Praise God for Grandmas!
Today during our visit, grandma came by again with presents for Malachi to give to his new brothers and sisters. She is just precious and so happy for him. She kept pointing at him and us saying "Papa" and "Mama".
She gave us a beautiful card and it had her address on it so we could send her pictures of him as he grows.
God is so good to us. It just made our hearts so happy to know he was/is loved and they truly want him to have a better life.
Praise God for Grandmas!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Our Munchkins
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. We had internet and computer problems for a while and I have just plain been having too much fun here. Our city is wonderful with so much history and we have made great friends who have taken us around to see it. We have learned important words like " Cappuccino"and "Tiramisu".
Our kids are amazing. It is so incredible how well they will fit into our family. We are ready to just snatch and run, but there is a little thing called jail that stops me.
Hopefully we will have court next Tuesday, with a good Judge.
Now to the good stuff...... pictures
Little man loves his Papa and Clare bear just wants to be held by Mama.
Hopefully now I will be able to post more often.
Off to bed now so we can have another fun filled day.
Our kids are amazing. It is so incredible how well they will fit into our family. We are ready to just snatch and run, but there is a little thing called jail that stops me.
Hopefully we will have court next Tuesday, with a good Judge.
Now to the good stuff...... pictures
Hopefully now I will be able to post more often.
Off to bed now so we can have another fun filled day.
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