Olena's Story...

2008-01-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

This marks the end of our adoption blog. I have enjoyed sharing our experiences with all of you, and hope that I was able to help or at least entertain a majority of you.

The original purpose of this blog was to keep the family in touch while we were in Ukraine. It turned into something much more than that, and I have all of you to thank. I honestly never would have thought my life would be interesting enough to attract so many people!! LOL!

The blog managed to transform into something more, which has been a blessing in disguise. I have made many new friends, I have helped a few other adoptive parents keep their faith in the system, and I know for a fact I inspired a few out there to actually consider adoption for their own families. This alone has made every last second of this blog worth it.

If you are currently in the process, be patient...it will be a long and grueling wait, but in the end none of it matters. And then for those of who have just stumbled across this blog, keep adoption in your heart. Domestic or international, who cares - just give a child a chance for a family. I have read and seen many stories and about couples who have struggled and suffered with infertility. You hear about the years and years of pain that has been bestowed upon them and my hearts breaks. It saddens me because I know that if they could just open their heart, they would see that it is not a barricade to becoming a parent, just a detour. God has created two paths for us to become parents, some are just too scared to try the path less traveled. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying this in a negative way, I just hope that our family and Olena have made, at least just one person, give that second road a chance, regardless of the reason. Adoption shouldn't just be a last resort....it should be another choice you have as a parent!

Most of you know that Olena was adopted by choice. At this time I am not considered infertile and Jason and I have not tried to conceive yet. The time will come that we will attempt it. If it happens, of course it is a blessing. If it doesn't....I have no shame -No shame as a woman, No shame as a wife - there are way too many orphans in this world to worry about such nonsense!

Also if you are reading this blog for the first time and if you have any adoption questions, please feel free to email me. I will do my best to help you in any way I can.

Thank you everyone and God Bless.
Christina

candjwarchol@yahoo.com

Final thoughts

2008-01-03T20:10:00.000-08:00

Well this is it. This will be my last post. I honestly am having a really hard time trying to decide what to write so I figured short and sweet was the way to go.

This last year has been rewarding yet very tough. The adoption process was cake walk comparing to learning how to become a mother! This was by far one of the most difficult things that I have had to overcome in my life. The ability to understand, have patience for and really appreciate a child takes strong emotional and physical will. Yet all of the hard work is paid in full once you see that beautiful smile, or hear that sweet giggle. Being a parent is a miracle regardless of how it happens.

I have spent the last few weeks thinking about Ukraine and the other kids in the groupa. It brings so many feelings back. I am happy to say, that Jason and I have decided to return! It is nothing that is going to happen any time real soon, but within the next 3-4 years we will like to return and adopt a sibling set. Olena will be old enough to understand and much easier to travel with. Now some of you might be thinking that is a long "down time" between children, but our other goal is to have a baby too....before returning to Ukraine! Our 5 year timeline goal.

2009 get pregnant
2010 move
2011 start adoption process
2012 hopefully travel to Ukraine.

Ideal for me would be a sibling set with one being older than Olena and one being between Olena and the "baby", or even a set of twins would be awesome! but as well all know Ukraine is constantly changing, so who knows how it will work at that time! Only time will tell. But we have a reachable goal in mind and something to look forward to so I am pretty excited.

Again, I hope were all able to take something away from this blog, whether it be encouragement, hope or even just "entertainment". I have enjoyed having someone listen, and someone to vent to. Good luck and God Bless everyone in their journey of life!

20 Things you may not know...

2008-01-03T19:46:00.000-08:00

Thought this might be fun, and maybe even helpful to some of you!!

1. I call Olena - Lana. Her name is pronounced OLANA so Lana seems so much easier :) I just don't like to write Lena because then it looks like LEna. Which I am not really too fond of!

2. Yes, my daughter does say the occasional swear word! Mommy and daddy sometimes have a potty mouth and our little angel has picked up a few naughty words. Hopefully she thinks an ASS is a donkey!

3. I have wanted to duck tape my daughter to the wall a few times, especially these past few weeks!

4. A bit too often, if Olena gets up before 730am, I have her sit on my bed and watch cartoons because I want to lay there under the covers for just a little bit longer.

5. Since becoming a mother, I don't think I have ever left this house without forgetting at least one thing!

6. I have been late to work at least 3 times a week since becoming a mother! Thankfully I have the best bosses in the world!

7. I sometimes doubt my ability to be good mother.

8. I think my baby is the cutest baby in the world :)

9. I have dreams of Olena being famous - she just fits the part so well!

10. I always forget she is adopted.

11. I never like washing her hair. She makes such a big fuss and I always end up getting wet and listening to her scream at me. It usually ends with me just dumping water over her head and both of us getting mad at each other.

12. I have picked up something off my floor and have fed it to her! OMG!!!

13. She has some nervous habits that drive me CRAZY!

14. I love this little girl, more than anything in this world.

15. I will always to thankful to Ukraine.

16. I always include Olga and Sergei (Lana's birth parents) and the groupa in my nightly prayers.

17. I wish I could locate Olena's brother - I have tried and have been unsuccessful.

18. One of the biggest accomplishments I have achieved this year is overcoming my fears and having the birth family search done.

19. Olena likes to eat dog biscuits and cat treats

20. Last but not least...I will miss this blog!!

2008-01-03T19:19:00.000-08:00

Looking pretty for the Christmas party

Lana with her Dadu on his 50th birthday! Can you believe my dad is only 50! I tease him he's old but look at him...pretty handsome.

mommy being brave and giving Lana a RED sucker BEFORE the Christmas party!

Daddy and Lana playing b ball. Grampy got her the new hoop. She loves it.

Yelling at mommy while she tries to take a picture.

We were leaving cookies, milk, and reindeer food for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Baby it's cold outside....

2008-01-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

It snowed the week before Christmas, I opened the door to let the dogs out and showed Olena the snow.

me: "Lana, do you want to go outside and play in the snow?"
O: (with a look of digust on her face) "bbrrr, baby its cold outside, NO!"

I laughed my butt off. Then I bundled her up and made her go outside anyway. And as you will see in the following pictures. She was not very happy with my decision, and after getting upset about me trying to get her to play in the knee high snow, she insisted that her and Mugsy sit in the hatch of my truck. Guess she is not much of a snow bunny!

Olena meets Santa

2008-01-01T16:51:00.000-08:00

For our first Family Day celebration we decided to go and meet Santa! We waited 2.5 hours, which seems crazy, but it was well worth it. She LOVED Santa! She talked his ear off and of course won him over. He kept saying how precious she was. Jason and I really thought that she would have a screaming fit, but much to our surprise it was just the opposite, and once it was over all she talked about was Santa bringing her "BIG toys!" - her words exactly. Christmas this year was definitely a lot more fun and interesting. I couldn't have asked for a better Holiday.

A year ago today...

2007-12-17T19:21:00.001-08:00

December 17th, 2007 at 8:30pm - we walked through the Customs doors at Detroit Metro Airport as a family of 3. It was one of the proudest and happiest moments of my life. The little girl we have grown to know and love was finally being introduced our life.... her new life. We came through those doors expecting to see only our parents and by surprise we were greeted by many many family and friends. It was so overwhelming and all I could do was cry. I was completely exhausted, we hadn't slept a wink in about 20 hours, we had just listened to our new darling angel cry and throw fits for the last 14 hours, we were all sick, and the emotions were beyond explanation.

Being home and in our house we so great. My bed NEVER felt so comfortable, my house never looked so clean (thanks to my momma, and Rickie), the house was decorated for Christmas, and the nursery was complete....everything was perfect!! It wasn't all sugar plums and candy canes though. The next 2-3 weeks were some of the hardest times this year. It was a huge adjustment for everyone. On top of that, we were all sick and being the week of Christmas, it was a whirlwind of chaos with family and friends visiting. She managed pretty good considering but there were many many sleepless nights, and many days of tears - for all of us.

None-the-less, I would never change a thing. This adoption was the best thing I have ever done and regardless of how rocky the road was to get here, it was worth every bit of pain. It's not much to ask, considering the little girl I was given in return.

Well this was suppose to be my last post, however, I am currently working on the "grand finale" and it is not complete yet. So I have decided to post a few more times throughout Christmas, and sometime before the New Year I will bring it to an end! I have decided to create a new blog that I will keep private for family and friends to view. I of course want to keep in touch and I know everyone enjoys reading the follow ups and see the new pictures so hopefully this will still enable you to do so without compromising my family's privacy.

Here are a few pictures from out Family Day!!!

2007-12-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Our skinny xmas tree!

Tea time with Teddy

Bundled up, helping daddy decorate the house with lights.

One of the few times she has looked precious this week.

This look more like what I have seen this week!!

The finals days

2007-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Not only have things been unbelievably busy in this house hold, our darling daughter has decided to make a complete fool out of me the last week and a half. Remember my last post when I was bragging about my perfect little obedient angel?? Well she is now a thing of the past! One day last week she woke up from her nap on the wrong side of the bed and has not been right since. NO is practically every other word out of her mouth, she is a total sass!, she is back to the screaming fits and jumping up and down when she doesn't get her way the second she wants it, it is a fight to get her to eat anything, and bed time has become a 30 minute fiasco! Drama Queen about sums it up! and it is driving me bonkers. Why now? why right at the Holidays when we have things to do and people to see?? though it doesn't seem like it, I am managing to turn things around slowly but surely. We had a really good day yesterday and today, things were great too...until nap. Which she refused to take even though she was exhausted.
I was able to get her down and asleep by 8:30 tonight, so now I pray! Jason wasn't here to tuck her in and that is something she has trouble cooping with, so it didn't go so smoothly. But I called him and had him say goodnight on the speaker phone and it made her feel a little better. She is definitely a daddy's girl at times :)
One positive note is that we are making great progress with potty training. This will be her second week and she has done really well. She still won't go on her own, we have to tell her to go, but she will actually hold it now. Whereas before she would just free flow regardless of where she was and what she was doing! If we don't catch the pee pee wiggle though, she will end up having an accident. I am happy and as long as we are moving forward I am satisfied.
She is extremely excited about Christmas. She understands everything that is going on. She is well aware of who Santa is and what his job is...to bring "BIG toys" as she would say. When we are out and about she greets everyone and says "ho ho ho mirrory ismas" and her new tune of choice is Jingle Bells. We are going to have a lot of fun this year and I am so excited about seeing her face Christmas morning!
Well looking back to last year at this time, we were in Kiev. We left Mykolayiv with Olena on the night of December 12. I still remember that night like it was yesterday and I still get that feeling of sadness in the pit of my stomach when I think about it. Believe it or not, I felt so bad leaving there and taking her with me. I was so happy to finally leave with her in my arms, but it just didn't seem fair. My heart stills aches just thinking about the rest of them who are still there. I will sometimes try to imagine what some of the others might be like if there were in Olena's shoes, and sadly I have looked at it from the other side too. What would Olena be like if she was still there?? The baby house was awesome and they did the best with what they had and these girls were well taken care of. Yet, it just isn't enough. Looking at the changes that she has made over this past year is remarkable. Today I looked at her while she was laughing...it is hard to explain, but when she laughs, you can't help but to be in awe because her laughter is filled with so much pure joy. You just know that this little girl, at this exact moment couldn't be any happier and that makes me feel so good.
Anyhow, we left for Kiev on the night of December 12 around 9:30 at night. We took pictures, said our goodbyes and tucked each one in for the night, kissing them on the forehead. We decided to drive by car which was a great idea. It took us about 6 hours. We were in a very comfortable car, and Olena did sleep a majority of the way. The "rest stops" were interesting enough and made the whole trip worth it. Along the highway people set up "market booths" and they would sell things like coffee, pop, water, snacks, warm food sometimes, and then back behind the booth they would have a bucket for those who had to go to the bathroom! I don't know way it amused me so much but I thought that was so cool. Well, except the bathrooms. I did opt for another option, but stopping at a hotel and using there "hole in the ground". It was actually a very very nice bathroom. It was all teal ceramic with gold fixings, and yes it was a "hole" but not in the ground. It was a real ceramic hole toilet, complete with grips for where you put your feet so you don't slip and it flush and rinsed with water. I didn't take my camera and I was bummed, but I wasn't about to ask the guys if I could go back in to take pictures, they would have thought I was crazy!!
We got to Kiev about 3 am in the morning. We stayed in a huge apartment right down town. The first night was pretty rough. Jason and I did not sleep much at all during the drive, and once we were in the apartment Olena was pretty nervous and had a lot of trouble sleeping. We managed to get a few hours then it was off to finalize the paper work at the embassy and to get her medical physical done. The day went pretty smooth. We got to see Tonya and Lyra for a few minutes, they were leaving later that day to head home.
It took us 2 days to get everything done, and we were scheduled to fly out 3 days later on the 17th. We said our good byes to Gene, and cried at the idea of leaving our new friend. And we finished off our time just getting to know each other as a family. We walked around the city, went shopping at the market for gifts for the family, went out to eat, and we even met up with Pam, Brian, and Angelina and had a celebration dinner. We found this very nice Italian restaurant right near the SDA, we had very very SLOW service, but the food was fabulous. We had ordered the girls both a bowl of mashed potatoes and they were the last to get their food, which came over 45 minutes after we ordered it. They were noisy, and screamed quite a bit, fluffing the nerves of a few guests, but all in all it was a good moment and now a great memory. Oh and Jason and I finally got that steak we were dying for. There was a Potato House across the street from our apartment and we both got a Tbone steak and it was the best steak I ever had! If you are in Kiev this restaurant is awesome! and not just for the steak. We ate there 3 times and everything we had was excellent.
Sitting here remembering everything brings a smile to my face. Those last 5 days - or should I say those FIRST 5 days as a family, together, was great. Waking up to that smiling face, bathing her myself, brushing her hair, and tucking her in at night. We experienced alot of our "first moments" those 5 days and they are some of the most previous memories of Ukriane that I have.

Busted!!!!

back when my baby would polish off a meal!

"first nap" with mommy and daddy

"woowho" life outside the desky dom is sweet!

Daddy and Olena checking things out!

2007-12-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

Court was over, and we had about 2 weeks left. We didn't really have much to do but just hang out so we decided to do some site seeing. We couldn't take Olena out of the orphange, so we just filled our days with visiting her, going to the zoo, shopping, and just enjoying our last days. We had a good time - here are few pictures from 12/2 and 12/3/2006.

Jason and I showed up to visit Olena and Brian and Pam were not there yet, we thought Angelina was so cute with her milk mustash and little spike we took a picture for them to see we so that they wouldn't miss it.

Jason and Gene had just gotten there haircut...how handsome!

My chucky monkey!

This was taken on 12/1 but theses chunky little cheeks just melts my heart! They are all so darn cute.

Entertainment anyone? How about going to the Disco/strip club/bowling alley! Dang why didn't we know about this when we all went bowling??

2007-12-02T20:19:00.000-08:00

2007-12-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

2007-12-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

What do you think?? she said it was "too itchy"

Her buddy, Mugsy!

My little book worm. She constantly has her nose in a book.

so much fun taking ornaments off of mommy's tree.

Gotcha Day....a fews days late!

2007-12-02T19:13:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the tardiness of my post. As many of you know, we just celebrated the 1 year anniversary since become the legal parents of Olena. A day we call "Adoption Day". Granted it is a day that we will NEVER forget, it is not the day we felt like we were her parents. Perhaps the legal end of it didn't really matter much to me. I knew I was her momma from the second I laid eyes on her. I just look at court like another hoop to jump in the legal process monotony.

My true moment of happiness and total relief was December 17 - the day I walked through those immigration doors at the Detroit airport. That is the day that I knew we were going to be ok. We were safe, and we were home! We were finally going to start living like a family.

Anyhow, we did not celebrate in any way. Just a normal ole' day with the exception that daddy stayed home from work and spent the day with Olena. We have been doing to winter cleaning around the house, which has been great. I have been able to get my pack rat of a husband to actually get rid of some things, and I must say it is looking good. We have a lot of storage space in our basement and we seem to have taken advantage of that and have managed to collect way too much junk. I was also able to reorganize many of the boxes I had. The Christmas stuff was all a mess. I guess last year in January I was pretty tired, because I just crammed everything into a bunch of boxes and bags. It was pretty scary, but I went through it all and was able to condense everything into 2 big totes. (When I pulled it out, there were the 2 big totes, 2 regular size totes, and 4 cardboard boxes and a garbage bag full of garland.) and I did not get rid of anything!! I feel very accomplished.

To bring you up to date with Olena, she is doing remarkable!! You all know I praise Tonya for all of her wise wisdom and because of that we have been enjoying a marvelous, happy toddler around here lately. No fits, the whining has improved greatly, she comes on the first call, she goes to bed without issue, she says please and thank you regularly, "may I" is standard practice, and she is just all around silly and happy! I couldn't be happier myself. Don't get me wrong, I still have to be on the ball every day. I am constantly reminding her to pick up her toys, be nice to the dogs and cats, don't swing from mommy's ceiling fan...lol! no, but honestly, every day we are still teaching her, but she listens and acts without complaint (98% of the time), and that is what I love! She is content with doing as I say and she takes pride in herself and the stuff that she does. Jason and I went through our home videos today and get ready for the holidays and I watched one tape with Olena throwing one of her infamous fits. I laughed because I had forgotten about those, believe it or not. She would throw herself on the floor, scream her head off, and scoot herself across the floor with her feet - just plain ridiculous! I cannot believe how bad she was. I laugh now, because I know she would NEVER consider doing that again! Her behavior and emotional state of mind is definitely something that has made a huge improvement since bringing her home.

Jason and I have been very blessed this past year and we are going into the Holiday season with a new love and warmth in our hearts. We have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope you all do as well.

Enjoy some new picture from this week.

Olena and her peeps! We all had to decorate the xmas tree!

look at her eyes in this pic. I am still amazed to this day just how big and beautiful they are!

My baby, 1 year ago.

2007-11-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

I don't have much time to post, but I went through my albums and these pictures were taken last year on the 25th and 26th of November. 1 year ago today! During this time, not too much was happening. We got through some major issues we encounter with our Judge and a few other road blocks but at this point we were just waiting for a court date so that we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We were into the trip 2 weeks and still had 3 to go. O was on her best behavior as you can see from the picture above (haha) and mommy and daddy were loosing thier minds! ahh the memories!

2007-11-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the delay. I just haven't been in the blogging mood. Things have been pretty busy around here lately and by the time I even get to the computer the idea of posting is "painful".

I went back to last November and read the blog entry I made, and I looked in my journal. At this point last year, I was not a happy camper :( I was starting to get terribly home sick, my little angel had turned evil! and I had enough of living with 2 men in a 800 square foot flat with nothing but Russian television or Meet the Fockers on DVD. Meet the Fockers was the only DVD we brought that actually worked in their players. Much to my surprise, it seems that DVD players are formatted to only work with certain DVDs. Look on the DVD itself, and you will see a globe, and a number in the globe must be '5' in order to work over there. Keep that in mind! We ended up watching it about 4 times a day because we could not stand to watch another program that we didn't understand!

Our life was pretty repetitive, kinda like Ground Hog Day. We would get up, eat breakfast of tea, sausage/cheese and crackers, we would walk to the orphanage, visit until about noon, walk home, stop at the market, eat lunch, take a nap, wake up and walk back to the orphanage, leave there about 6:30, head home, eat dinner, then sit around and talk with Gene, or I would read.
That was life for about 2 weeks.....boring!! I think back now and feel guilty for those feelings but I understand it was a point where we were both exhausted, mentally and emotionally...all I wanted to do was go home and be with my family.

At this point in our trip we also ran into some other problems. I wish I could go into further detail but being a public blog I am not crazy enough to post them here and take any risks, but I want to share with those of you traveling soon, issues will arise. Be prepared. Ukrainians love to drink, sometimes way too much. And Ukrainians know Americans have money, and sometimes they want too much!! Regardless, we had a huge support system when our issues did arise, Cathy and her Team were there the second we called on them, and our families were here at home, working things on this end! It all turned out for the better and the adoption went on of course, and we hold no hard feelings against anyone. Adoption is a way of life over there - it is what puts food on the table for many families. Some do abuse the system, but that is just a fact. Choosing Ukraine was exactly that....a choice. I educated myself as much as I could, and I was always aware of what was going on and what to expect, and that is way I now cherish my experience, and remember the good points and not so much of the bad. Every time I look at this little girl I am filled with so much love and passion, none of that re enters my mind, for the most part, it is forgotten. I guess it is like giving birth, the pain is all forgotten once it is over!

Thanksgiving was also on the same day last year - November 23rd. That was a coincidence! I wanted to take a moment to reflect back over this year a share a few of things that I am most thankful for....

*Of course, top on my list is Olena and her awesome transition. She is one of the bravest little girls I have ever known and she has really opened her heart to learn to how to love and trust us. That is a huge feat for such a little girl.

* I am thankful for my friends and family, especially my parents, for the support that they have given us as a family, financially and emotionally. There were many days over the first few months were I had to just "give up". I am not saying that babies are easy, but at least when you bring a baby home, for the most part they just eat and sleep. You feed them and then do things for yourself while they are sleeping. Then over a period of a few months, the demands get tougher, but you are gradually worked into that routine. We went for worrying about nobody but ourselves to having a crying, whining, running, screaming, hungry, sick, confused, and EXTREMELY tired toddler. She kept us up all hours of the night, she screamed and cried a lot, and I never knew what she wanted...I don't think she knew either ;) It was one of the toughest, and most testing moments of my life!

*I am thankful for my husband. He had to tough it out too and I know it was hard. All the while we stayed strong as husband and wife. He held me the many times I cried in frustration, and he was always there to take over when he knew I hit the breaking point.

*I am thankful for my employer who has been a complete blessing over the past year. They firmly believe in "family first" and that has made my life so much easier!

*and last but not least, I am thankful to Tonya Kissack. Though she is hundreds of miles away, and we don't talk too much personally, she has been an inspiration, a teacher, and a great influence. Much more than she will ever know! (until now) Many of you who read my blog read hers too, so you are aware of what kind of mother and wife she is - which is AMAZING!! I have learned many parenting tips and ideas, I have read many of her recommendations and because of her I know I am a better person and a better mother. She radiates love and a strong opinion of faith - she is an angel in disguise for many people and I am sure for many of the you who read her posts everyday! I for the first time in my life have decided to read the Bible. My husband and I went to church for the first time for Sunday Mass a few weeks back, I now strive to be a better person, wife, mother, daughter and friend. This is definitely something that has proved to be much easier with the help of God and the power of prayer. If you have read my blog from the start, you are aware that I was never a person of Faith. I lacked that in my life and I now know that my heart was very empty because of it. A dear friend put me on the path before we left for Ukraine, but once I came home, for whatever reason it was tough to continue. I got sucked back into the old bad habits. Reading Tonya's blog, and hearing her "words" put that glow back in my heart and encouraged me to get back on the path and move forward. It has been a slow process, but I am trying and that is all that matters. It seems Tonya is always there to pull you back up when you start to slip! and she does it without even realizing it. So without boring you all too much, Cheers to Tonya. I will remember her and her family tomorrow and thank God for bringing her into my life!
Thank you Tonya for being a true inspiration~

Say a prayer tonight for all of your family and friends. And lets not forget those little ones we left behind!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from the Warchol Family! and God Bless.

The day we met.

2007-11-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

November 15th is the day we met.

We got off of the train in Mykolayiv at 6a.m. in the morning after a 12 hour trip. We couldn't visit the orphanage until we got approval from the Municipal Council - which didn't open until 9 a.m.! So what do you do?? First you lug all of our luggage off of the train. Your tired, you stink, you look like crap and your legs wobble when you walk because you can't shake the feeling of being on a moving train. Then with wobbly legs you (and all of your luggage) climb 4 flights of stairs to walk across a bridge and just walk back down. We then had to pay to sit in a waiting room so that we could try to take a nap. Every time I closed my eyes, I got "train" spins and I was sicker then hell do to low blood sugar. At this point, we had not eaten anything of substance since dinner on Monday night (it is now Wednesday morning). We hang out for a few hours then we decide to take a taxi into town. There is a McDonalds there, so Gene wanted to get a bite to eat and at least wait where it was warm until the M.C opened. We hail a cab, put everything in the trunk, and take the ride through Mykolayiv. This is where the reality sets in. Kiev is so much different then typical Ukraine - as you drive through the town, you see how Ukraine's majority lives.
We get to McDonalds and they don't open for another hour, so we sit in the outside court yard, freezing our butts off. When they finally opened, we rush in and all of us are starving so we go to order. The menu is a bit different there though....no breakfast. Yep, we scarfed down a double cheese burger at 8am in the morning, and I have to admit it was probably the best dcb I have ever had :)
At 9a.m we hail another taxi, go the the Municipal Council, unload the luggage again. We go in, taking the luggage with us and Gene takes us into this office that I swear was no bigger than my bathroom. It is packed with 4 desks, 4 ladies with an ungodly amount of perfume on, filing cabinets, stacks and stacks of paper everywhere. We figured we would wait in the hall....oh no, come on in, and don't forget the luggage! Good grief! and to top it all off - they ALWAYS close doors in a room. Now the claustrophobia kicks in :) Just kidding. It was fine, but pretty comical. They were very nice to us, and babbled on in Russian all the while just smiling at us (hhmmm, wonder what they were saying??) but we got what we needed and got the heck out of dodge.
Now the fun begins. It seems that the taxi drivers in Mykolayiv require no common knowledge of City and the places that are in it. Our first experience with this was finding the "desky dom". After we leave the M.C, get another cab, get our luggage in, again... we're off to the orphanage. But not before spending 45 minutes, driving through woods, back alleys, dead end roads, construction sites and only God knows where else, we FINALLY arrive. Unload the luggage drag it into the orphanage, just to find out that the director just left for court about 5 minutes before hand. We have to wait for her to return before we can see Olena. So we wait, we wait and yes, we wait a little more. There is a nurse that keeps walking back and forth between one of the rooms and the exam room, each time with a different little girl or boy, and each time having them say "Dobry den'!" (good day!). Some would smile with pure joy and obey her command, others would give us a laugh by purposely defying her and acting silly! Olga, the director, finally returns after about 2 hours. She has us follow her up to her office (still dragging the luggage) She welcomes us in, has us sit down, goes over a few things about Olena and her birth parents. Then is asks us if we are ready to meet her. If you recall from our original post, we were introduced to the wrong little girl first. There was another Olena K. who was a bit older, the error was discovered fairly quickly though. All laughs aside, and now more tense then ever, we walk back through the halls and through the doors of the toddler room. They were eating lunch. She points to Olena and said that's her. OMG! the most absolutely gorgeous little girl I had ever seen in my life. I was bawling my eyes out before I even realized it.
Those next 30 minutes were and are the most magical moments in my life. I will never forget them.

we didn't think to bring out the camera, so Gene was taking pictures with his camera phone.

This was taken within minutes of meeting her.

We took these pictures when we returned later that night to visit her again.

2007-11-15T19:46:00.001-08:00

2007-11-15T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well it seems great minds think alike because I read Tonya's blog today and she had the same exact idea I did...I was going to spend these next 50 some days remembering our time in Ukraine. I thought I would post a few things that we didn't while there due to obvious reasons, and try to share some of the great memories I have that I just didn't think to post at the time.

Our adoption trip was perfect, and I tell that to everyone I meet. I still do read the adoption boards, and yes I am still a blogging junkie - scoping out all of the new blogs and following the stories of those families who are currently there - I love to relive the experience. Every time I start to reminisce I will usually remember something small that I had forgotten about that brings a smile to my face. Reading all of this, I often hear/see words of frustration due to the snags you hit along the way....inaccurate paperwork, delays, delays and more delays, expediting fees, etc. Jason and I were thrown a few curve balls during our time there, believe me. That doesn't mean we had a bad experience. I expected it, expected it all. And because of that, we were able to tackle anything that came our way. We didn't stress about it, we just accepted it. That's Ukraine! We are all told that from the very beginning. Expect the unexpected if you chose to adopt from Ukraine. I educated myself upside down and backwards. Gene very rarely even had to explain what he was doing, because I already knew. Just like the ole' saying goes "knowledge is power" and that is why we were able to enjoy this experience to it's fullest!

Anyhow, like I said I will go back in time, and start to re-blog our path to parent hood. Our "Family Day" will be celebrated on December 17th. I know that is not the date that we officially became a family, but it is day that I officially FELT like a family. December 17th is the day that I stepped onto US soil with my daughter in hand and the first night she slept under my roof, where she belongs.

December 17th will also be the day that I end the blog.
I have done my part to advocate adoption the best way I can. I have shared my time before, during and the whole year after. If this blog isn't testimony enough, as to why adoption is such a miracle, then sadly I have failed what I was striving for. I have shared my daughter's daily life with the whole world for a year now, and I think it is time that I start to respect her privacy. I hope that this blog will serve many purposes....to inspire others to adopt, to educate those who will adopt, and bring comfort to those who have adopted.

I have grown to know many of you in the cyber world and I would love to keep you posted with how she progresses. If you are ever curious please do not hesitate to email me!

Thank you to everyone who actually found my life interesting enough to read about.

One year ago!

2007-11-13T18:28:00.000-08:00

November 13, 2006....the "due" date of our adoption. The one date that we waited for, for almost 2 years!

One year ago today, Jason and I walked hand in hand through the door of the SDA, leaving Gene behind. Walking down the hall, through a room with parents who were already in their meeting, through another door into a small office. Closing the door behind us, the translators asks us to sit down. There are 2 other ladies in addition to the translator...the psychologist, and a "reporter" who recorded the whole meeting. They explained to us that they had preselected 5 young girls, all under the age of 3. All were healthy with the exception of developmental delays. "Are you ready?" they asked. Jason and I scared out of our wit just nodded our heads in agreement. She laid down the first profile in front of us, before she could even speak I busted out in tears. I couldn't contain myself any longer. "Are you alright?" the translator asks. "YES, this is just the moment I have been waiting for 2 years, I am just excited". She gives us some details of this little girl (who turned out to be Angelina White), then she lays down the second profile...Olena. The picture was beyond beautiful. She had this huge smile, and huge brown eyes, and a brown fuzzy head, she was 6 months old and absolutely perfect. They went on to show us 3 more, all of whom where beautiful but at this point I couldn't stop thinking about the first 2. After seeing all 5, the psychologist asks "Do you have any questions?"
Jason, looks at me, "what do you think?"
"I really love Angelina - the first one, she reminds me of the gerber baby!"
I pull out her file and Olena's lay them next to each other and look at both pictures again. The translator, points to Angeline's file, "the caregivers say she is really really cute!"
"she is, but maybe this one instead" I grab Olena's file.
Jason perks up and smiles, "Yes, she is the one! I know it, she looks like my sister!"
"OK." I hand the file to the psyhologist. "We want to meet her!"
"No questions about her, or the others?"
"No, we don't care - we want to meet her"

That was it. It lasted maybe a whole 10minutes. We showed them the photo album we brought, they loved it! they asked us about our home and our family, and gave us many compliments. A few minutes later, the translator hands us a piece of paper and shows us a map. "Here is where she lives, Myckolayiv! and here is her name and birth date. "
she hands me a paper with some writing on it.

'Olena Sergivena K. 1.20.2005'

They hug us both and send us out the door. We walk back down the hallway and the translator pushes the door open, Gene, and a room full of families and there facilitators are all staring at us. Silence....."we found our daughter - she lives in Mykolayiv" I wave the piece of paper in the air like a trophy. Gene snatches it from my hand, and grabs his cell phone, he starts making all the necessary plans. The families and everyone else, surround us, asking us questions, hugging us, crying, it was complete chaos, but also a moment of complete relief, and happiness.
And that is how is all began!!

Happy Appointment Anniversary!

the long awaited Halloween pics!

2007-11-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

I don't have a lot of time to post tonight - I have a couple of important chores to tackle but I know that many of you have been waiting for Halloween pictures, so here are a few! BTW, she is a trick or treating champ! 2 hours, and a huge, UN-needed bag of candy that daddy and Aunt Rickie will devour!

In case you are wondering, she started out as a fairy, but became a little goulish somewhere down the line! She somewhat reminds me of Beetlejuice!

Mykolayiv Baby House has expanded!!!!

2007-10-25T19:46:00.001-07:00

I have known about this for awhile now but sadly havn't had much time to investigate it much. I took some time the other night to start going through some websites and I read about this in futher detail. It is amazing and I am very proud to see such a great improvement.

Olga, the director of the Mykolayiv (Nikolaiev) baby house is a saint. She strives so hard to improve the life of these children and I am delighted to see how and where donations are spent. Last year a seminar organized by the new Ukrainian ministry for youth and sports, the Mykolayiv Baby House received the mandate to carry out a pilot project of a Montesorri class.

The Montessori classes are based on the teaching method elaborate by Maria Montessori .
In short, the philosophy of this pedagogy is to let the child learn by itself at his rate/rhythm in a suitable environment and with specific toys. This represents a drastic change (in other words a 180° turn) of the educational methods within Ukrainian orphanages.

After successfully finishing the first Montessori indoor class room last November (2006), Director Olga Ivanovna at the MBH decided to extend Montessori project and build an outdoor Montessori playground for the children. That playground includes a pool and many different pedagogical outdoor toys and sensotherapy areas. This project costs a total of 12,900 US$ In order to complete Montessori certification in spring 2008 Nikolaiev Baby House needs a kit of special Montessori educational toys. Cost to buy those Montessori toys (called “standard” kit) is US$ 1,000 Before final Montessori certification NBH staff needs to attend a final training course in Kiev which costs for travel and subsistence US$ 300

donations can be made at the link above.

Out door pool, finished this past summer.

2007-10-25T19:30:00.000-07:00

To the rightof this path is where they built the pool. It is right outside the window of Olena's room.

This is Alex, the desky dom (sha-bach-ka) His home is directly under their window. The new outdoor Montassori play area is now right behind his dog house.

Corner of the building, upper windows is where Olena was housed. Those windows are looking out from the sleeping room. The addition, that you can somewhat see sticking out (behind the tree) was a "veranda" where we would take Olena to play sometimes when we would visit.

Indoor class room

2007-10-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

Idea corner

2007-10-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share this...when we went the Ukrainian Angels reunion back in September and another family had brought something that I found very cool. Dad, made a book out of their blog! He had to reformat the blog onto a word document, but he did it very nicely with all of the pictures, and at the end of each entry (chapter) he even included all of the comments. It was so well done, and was really fascinating. All you have to do, is put it together how you want it, then take it to the Kinko's, or local printing shop and have them bind it for you. I think this is something I will do for the "first year home". Seems like a nice way to cherish these precious memories.

Another cheesy idea....I took a picture that Olena painted and framed it, then hung it in my kitchen. I got so many compliments, and many where surprised to find out that it was a painting done by her. Since everyone was so fond of her amazing artistic abilities :) I scanned a few of her best - and made a collage with the various painting, and then I printed them on high quality glossy paper, put them in a nice frame, and WA LA....instant gift for the grandparents. Hey the Holidays are right around the corner.

Fall in Michigan

2007-10-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

We discovered a beautiful walking trail a few miles from our home. It was such a perfect fall day this past Sunday, we decided to spend the morning walking through the woods. It was gorgeous and very relaxing. It was about 3 miles and she walked the entire way without too much complaining. Towards the very end, mommy did get stuck carrying her on my shoulders.

can you say DIVA!

2007-10-22T19:55:00.001-07:00

She looks like a movie star!

Daddy and Olena

2007-10-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

sunday afternoon play time is always fun.

2007-10-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

She was fasinated by these Christmas statues, but she kept her distance. She made sure that there was a safety space between her and all non living creatures :)

Trying to get just one "good" posed picture of her is impossible. I try to get her sitting in the garden and I get a picture that looks like she is pooping on a rock.

Mommy and Olena

Aunt Rickie (aka Toot-ta) and Olena

Olena after a tough day of play!

A day of fun.

2007-10-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

This guy was just trying to scratch his butt on the shelf that was hanging on the wall, then here comes Miss Olena.

Her and the cockatoo seemed to understand each other just find. Don't ask me what they were saying but they carried on a full blown conversation -

She was trying to talk some sense into this goat.

She kept telling him..."goat. stay. Lana ride....o.k.?? just stay.

Over the weekend we went to Windsor to hang out at Aunt Rickies house. We stayed the night and then went to Calasanti's on Saturday morning. They have a small petting zoo, which Olena loved! (She tried to ride the goats on several occasions - poor animals) and we got to see some scarey Halloween decorations. I was laughing to hard to take pictures of those priceless memories, but lets just say mommy observed Olena and Aunt Rickie running in the other direction on several occasions.

Waiting patiently...

2007-10-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

She goes to gymnastics on Wednesday morning. This is her waiting "impatiently" last Wednesday. She was very annoyed that we were taking so long.

Getting ready for Halloween

2007-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

I decided to let her practice cleaning a pumpkin on a small one we got at the fair. She loved it, and dived right in! she even loves the seeds that we baked.

This is her scarey face....she is scaring for candy!

Birth Family Search!

2007-10-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

FYI: Gene, our translator, has some spare time over the next few months so if you are interested in completing a birth family search - he is available. He will travel anywhere in Ukraine, and his costs are very reasonable. He completed one for us back in the Spring and we were extremly happy with the results.

Email me if you are interested in his services and I will share his contact information with you.

2007-10-11T15:04:00.001-07:00

I know that this is long over due, sorry. I honestly just don't feel like I have anything exciting to write about so I don't bother. I just don't want to bore anyone. But, it seems that Mrs. Tonya Kissack has an issue with the fact that I have not updated so I figured it was time :) (wink wink)

BTW, have any of you logged onto the Kissack and/or White's blog? OMG these girls are so beautiful. I am not being bias but I really think that "our" orphanage has some of the best babies in Ukraine. I was reading Tonya's post about Lyra not having any memory of her days there, and the same is true for Olena. We have played the video recording several times and I show her pictures and it doesn't even phase her. It is as if it never happened. I wasn't really worried, but I did find it strange that she wouldn't show some sign of remembering. Thanks Tonya for sharing, now at least I have an understanding of why!

Olena too shows absolutely no sign of institutionalized behavior. She is a perfect typical 2 year old girl. I had to laugh about Lyra's screaming issue because we too have this problem and I am honestly thankful that we are not the only ones suffering :) It is so awful. Loud, piercing and for some reason it always catches me off guard. She is so quick about it!! This morning I got it twice, once when I told her it was time to brush her teeth and again when I put her in the corner for doing it the first time - just great huh?!

She is smart as a whip. We were doing some Halloween crafts last night and I made a ghost and wrote the word BOO next to it. She picked up the picture, pointed to it and said "look mommy....BOO!" now yes, it was a very simple word, but I was so excited!! she will not even attempt to sing her ABCs, in fact the best I have ever gotten out of her, is literally ABC and that's it. Yet she can identity several letters of the alphabet. I stenciled nursery rhymes on her wall - back when I had nothing to do but wait for her to come home - and she will go up to the wall, point to a letter and say it! she manages to amaze me more and more every day.

She has no attachement problems. She is fully attached to Jason and I as well as my parents and her "toota" (her Aunt Rickie) and she is cautious of strangers. Besides the virus that all three of us had upon coming home, she hasn't been sick since. She got impetio back in the spring but I think that came from the daycare that I had her for a couple of weeks.

She has "school" for about 2 hours a day. We are currently working on 'pencil control' as I call it - I have her tracing letters and shapes. I bought her a dry erase book that has all of the letters and shapes are done in dotted lines so she can trace over them. She knows all shapes and all of her colors. She knows all of the numbers 1-10, but just like her ABCs she won't actually count! She now can sing "where is thumbkin", "hokey pokey", "I love you (Barney song)", and of course Patty Cake....oh and Baby it's Cold Outside by Dean Martin, which is one of her favorites - thanks to Dadu (gpa)

I have been thinking a lot about our trip lately, maybe because our 1 year "anniversary" is coming but I really miss Ukraine. I miss the kids from the groupa, the caregivers, the ladies selling sunflower seeds, the walk we took to the orphanage every day....it is just all so close to my heart. I can't imagine "having" children any other way :) I wish more than anything we could do it again, but I don't know if that is something that will repeat itself. I am very fond of Ukraine and our trip was perfect, but I don't have that feeling "pulling" me back there again. This adoption was something that was destined for me my whole life, I was born into this world to be this little girls mother, I just know it. I remember being 9 years old, playing with my Barbies, and having them adopt from "Russia" (and it was always a little girl. No boys for me!!) I know that part of me has been fulfilled, now I am just waiting for my next call of duty. We talk about it quite a bit and I definitely want at least 4 kids but right now is not the time. I have a few health issues that I must overcome and some personal goals that I need to achieve, so I know that we will wait for at least another year. The time will come. I am still clueless as to whether it be having home grown or adoption again but I know I will get the answer I need.

A few weeks back, we went to the Michigan/Ukrainian Angels Reunion. We had a great time. It was nice to see everyone again and see how much the kids have grown. Olena was great and was very well behaved - but then again she was getting a lot of attention and there never seems to be a problem when everyone is paying attention to Miss Olena :)

For someone who didn't have much to say, this sure is a long post! We have a big Halloween Party at my parents house this weekend so I will be sure to take lots of pictures and post next week. You will die, when you see how tall she is. Still no weight but she is growing like a bean. As of last week she was 34 inches tall and 24lbs and size 6 shoe! When we got home she was 19lbs and 28inches tall.

Sorry for babbling! stay tuned next week for new pics.

Mommy's definition of Beautiful!

2007-09-18T20:02:00.001-07:00

Anxiously waiting for daddy to come home!

her and teddy taking their naps!

Don't get me wrong, my daughter is ALWAYS beautiful to me!! even when she is a complete brat...but this is the 'beautiful' that I love best!

Olena's definition of beautiful!

2007-09-18T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today I really wanted to get the perfect picture of her in this little dress. It kills me how cute it is, I just want to eat her up :) Jason was calling her PeggySue all day, he said it looks like she walked right out of the 50s! Anyhow, whenever I pulled my camera out to try and snap a picture, she gave me this "pose" and said "Buful baby momma!". Good grief....

BTW, this dress is 24 months! and I bought her a pair of 24 month pjs and they fit her great! She is growing like a bean. Some stuff is still big but I would say this fall she should fit comfortably in an 18 months! The sweater I got on clearance in Canada for 1.99 :) at the Children's Place.

Pat-a-cake

2007-09-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

FINALLY I have gotten one of my videos to post. I have been trying this for weeks.
Anyhow, I hope you enjoy. She is hard to understand in this video because this was about the tenth time she had me tape her....she kept saying "again momma....again" The first time she did it, it was perfect and clear throughout the whole song, but I cannot get it too post, too long I think?! AARRGG! anyhow I think this one is just as great (and cuter), it even shows a bit of her stuttering :)

In case you are lost in translation....

*pat a cake, pat a cake bakers man

*roooolllll it, pat it, ma ma ma ma ma mark a "B"

*put it, me and momma.

Seems she missed a few notes :)

2007-09-13T17:39:00.000-07:00

She thinks she is sssoooo cool when she wear these boots!

This started out as washing dishes, and turned into making bubble beards!

Olena in her new BIG girl bed!

Life is tough being 2!

What my beautiful daughter looks like after a hard days play outside :)

Regarding Kissack Post

2007-09-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Tonya was talking about things that related to Lyra's adoption and asked for other parents' stories. Here are a few of mine.

I had a dream in August of 2006 that Jay and I were camping with the family. I had a toddler in my arms with dark, very short hair, huge dark eyes and pudgy cheeks. She kept telling me that she was 2. My aunt also walked into our tent and she was pregnant, which really surprised me, and surprised the whole family. I called my grandma that morning and told her about the dream. I personally kept visualizing a blond hair blue eyed, 3 or 4 year old when I thought about our future daughter. Also nobody was expecting this particular aunt to get pregnant or have any more kids. Well while in Ukraine, we found our dark haired dark eyed 2 year old, and found out my aunt, the same one, was 2 months pregnant. Surprise!
We have a friend who is clairvoyant. While at a bbq one night we were talking about the adoption and she told me that my future daughter was currently 9 months old. This was on the night of October 31, 2005. (Olena's bday is 1/20/2005) I laughed at her because at this time I was expecting to travel by December/January 2005- this was before the big shut down. I knew that my awaiting child would not be any younger than 15 months. If it was October and I would be travelling in a few months, than there is NO WAY my daughter is only 9 months old. Who would have thought at that time it would be well over a year before I actually did get to travel. And what do you know...Olena was exactly 9 months old in October of 2005.
I starting keeping a journal when we began our adoption. On January 18, 2005 I wrote my "daughter" a letter. Expressed my excitement and how happy I was to be coming for her. We were in the process of waiting for the agency to send us the final home study. It is hard to imagine she hadn't even been born yet.
We started the adoption process in May of 2004. That would be around the time that Olena's birth mother finds out she is pregnant.
January 20, 2006 (Olena's first birthday) I received the "letter" via snail mail from the NAC that we will be considered for an appointment in 2006. Jason and I discuss backing out of the process because of the shut down.

I am sure that there are more but it doesn't matter, we were obviously meant for each other. There is no doubt in my mind. My dreams and heart have always been set on adopting a girl from Eastern Europe. It is like I always knew. The second Jason and I started talking family, I was determined to get this adoption completed. It is hard to explain and it is sort of Corny, but my heart has always been pulled in that direction. No matter how many times I considered backing out and no matter how mad I got, I knew that I would NEVER really quit. And now, even though I would love nothing more than to return, that pull is gone. I feel a great connection, but I truly think that chapter is closed. I am still waiting for the next "calling" but right now, it is time to focus on me and my health and then we'll see where our hearts lead us.

End of summer is here!

2007-09-06T18:15:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to do yet tonight, but I thought I would check in and bring you up to date. Here are a few things that have happened lately...

We went to Northern Michigan and visited my great aunt and uncle who had not met Olena yet. We had a very restful and peaceful time. It was the refresher we needed. She was very well behaved and loved the idea that pretty much every waking moment of her days were spent outside.

I cut my hair off short, and I LOVE it. I had it short back when Jason and I started dating but I have let it grow out since then. I cut it on a whim and couldn't be happier. It is much easier and it is much prettier. I curl it in the morning, which only takes a few minutes, run my fingers through it and I am done. The best part is that it stays that way all day :) I love long hair but all I was doing was wearing it in a pony tail every day and I couldn't stand leaving it down.

Potty training was tried again and failed :( I am not getting frustrated because I can see that she is just not ready, but I am tired of paying for diapers. She just has no interest and has accidents all day long, and it doesn't phase her. I am getting pretty tired of cleaning up pee pee on my furniture. The pull ups feel just like diapers to her, she doesn't even flinch with the cold touch ones - and I can't find rubber pants small enough for her that actually hold the fluid in! It always runs out the legs. We'll try again in a few weeks.

Fall is around the corner! My favorite time of the year. And I am very excited about Olena experiencing Halloween. We have so many great orchards here in Michigan, my parents have a huge Halloween party which is always a lot of fun for the kids, we will be going to Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, and of course the fun of making her costume - well, my mom making the costume. She made everyone one of mine growing up and now she will continue the tradition and make Olena's. She is going to be a fairy - with a Halloween twist!! I am so excited!!! She loves wearing her wings around the house and loves the little fairy stickers that I put on the wall by her school desk so it seemed like the best idea. She is going to look so cool.

Not much progress in her learning since the last post. The pronunciation of her words is greatly improving however she has developed a pretty prominent stutter. It came out of no where. One day she started it and it was happening a lot. We had a feeling it was being done on purpose so we just ignored it. When it continued the next day, we started paying attention and would ask her to slow down when she was having trouble. It has now been about a week , and it is pretty frequent. You can even see her trying to "push" the word out. If you have ever seen the movie Paulie, about the talking parrot...her speech and actions are exactly like the little girl who stuttered. (No, Olena has never seen it.) I am assuming that her little mind is working a lot faster than her mouth can keep up. So I will wait it out. Strangely enough, I myself stuttered when I was a toddler, I out grew it before going into kindergarden and I am fine now. I will admit, every once in a while I will catch myself doing it. Seems she has "inherited" this from me! If anyone has any specific ideas as to what I can do to help her deal with it better please let me know.

That just about covers everything. I posted a few pictures below. Enjoy!

Is she Polish? or Ukrainian? In this outfit, I'm begining to wonder?

Can you at least crack a smile for me? Not a single one out of about 25 pictures would she smile for me. I was trying to capture the moment....she is 'wearing' her first set of side ponytails. Her hair is just long enough.

Doing school work praticing letters. This table is the best thing in the world. A family friend gave it to me, it was her girl's table. The top was marked up so I used chalk board paint - now she has a place to color for fun and to practice writing letters and drawing shapes. It is great when we are doing school work.

Hangin out in Canada, A!

2007-08-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at my best friend, Rickie's house in Canada. Granted Rickie sees Olena all week (she is her nanny) Rickie loves to have her over for a visit. They live on a 'bush' so their house and yard are infested with every kind of imaginable bug...which drives me absolutely crazy. Hornets, spiders, crickets, crickets and more crickets, frogs, grass hoppers, beetles galore...it is paradise for the local birds....and my daughter, the bug freak. Uncle Dan was cutting the grass and standing on their deck looking down, it looked like a bug city. There were bugs up the waazoo crawling in the grass, eeewwwwhhh! Olena couldn't stop laughing. So Toycha (aka Rickie) got the bug jar and they went hunting. The big catch of the day was Hopper the grass hopper. This bug was a mutant I swear! This was by no means a normal size bug! When we let him loose on the deck Olena kept poking it in the butt to make it jump! Now that was funny :)

Ladies day at the zoo!

2007-08-17T20:12:00.001-07:00

Olena, my mom and I took a day over the weekend and went to the zoo. It was great for just the three of us to spend some time together but it was a last minute decision and it was hot as hell! We sweated our butts off and hardly none of the animals were out because of the heat! O'well, but all in all we had some good quality time together. In a few weeks, once things began to cool down, perhaps we will return, but this time with daddy! She really liked the butterfly house. She was completely amazed about seeing them flying all around. **she has a strange fondness of flying objects?** I tried to get a few good pics but a hot and cranky toddler doesn't usually like to cooperate with mommy and the camera.

Olena protesting another picture in the butterfly house.
mommy and Olena watching the 1 seal that was actually swimming in the Artic aquarium.

She LOVED the huge water fountain that they have there. We had to stand there and watch it for about 10 minutes. She was probably hoping I would tell her we could go swimming.

2007-08-14T05:15:00.000-07:00

FYI: this post refers to a video - but that video is not here. I have been trying all night to download it and I finally thought I got it but I was wrong. A 30 second video clip has been attempting to download for over 9 hours now so I am thinking that I am doing something wrong! I will try again later today! Sorry guys.

The wind is finally back in our sails, and we are trudging forward. It has been an AWFUL and very stressful 2 weeks. My little Angel has returned and she is cute as ever, as you can see from the new video!! Olena has had a few (couple dozen) crabby and bad girl days...they were everyday....every waking minute....and I was at the end of my rope. Nothing changed in the way we were doing things or even what we were doing. She just woke up being a whinny, impatient, tantrum throwing, naughty little girl and she stayed that way for a few weeks. Then late last week she woke up the old Olena and we have been fine ever since?? kids can really test your sanity.
I guess this is too be expected, not just from a typical toddler but an adopted toddler as well. Perhaps she just really needed to put us to the test to see if we were really sticking around?? Maybe she was grieving?? more so lately she has taken an interest in the Ukraine pictures and she never really cared before. She was actually speaking fluent Russian to the lady at my dad's work who was trying to communicate with her using Polish?!? who knows her reason, but she was God awful!! Please forgive me for saying that but it is the honest to goodness truth! Nothing mad her happy, she threw fits constantly, no type of punishment was working in fact every time we punished it made things worse and last even longer....we were tough though we didn't give in. But that is what made it even harder because we were dealing with 30-45 minute tantrums, one right after the other! It really starts to test your strength as husband and wife too! Now that it is over, we have very much enjoyed our daughter and have spent a lot of time together lately just having fun.
Lots of work has been going on too. We got the living room painted, finally. I am disappointed in our decision to use semi-gloss because our house is old, and the walls are not in the greatest shape. The semi-gloss shows a lot of flaws. Not sure why we did it anyways...we know this, and we have painted in our house several times and every time we have used eggshell. I think that the both of us were just so emotionally and mentally drained that we just didn't care. We painted at night, so we didn't even realize the stupid thing we did until the next morning. Oh well, I told Jason I would just hide all the bad parts with pictures :)
We also installed 4 new windows - and they look beautiful. We will continue to buy a few at a time when we get the extra money until the whole house is done! We did both the windows in Olena's room and now we can open them from the top, which is nice. No more little fingers pushing holes through my screens!!
Olena is doing great in all areas, expect the potty training still. We haven't even tried again because she gets so mad when we ask.
Here are some of the things she knows ; all colors, all basic shapes, she will not sing the ABCs but she is starting to identify letters...she knows A-E without help. She can count and recognize numbers 1-10, she will hold up her fingers and show you the corresponding numbers, she can name all 100 words in her picture dictionary, she talks in sentences but it is choppy, like "mommy, may I, cookie please", she is lacking the verbs but she tries to get out as much as she can and she will repeat herself correctly if I ask. She will name and locate all parts of her body...head, hair, eye, chin, cheek, lips, ears, neck, shoulders, elbow, wrist, fingers, belly, back, butt, legs, knees, ankles, thighs, toes, heals, and finally finger/toe nails! she is one smart cookie. She knows the sign language for all of the things in a home such as table, chair, refrigerator, bowl, cup, bed, etc., and apparently from the video she knows all of the dance moves to High School Musical!! Sorry for the gloating but this is her "baby's first year" diary, so this will all be important to her one day, I'm sure.

News in Ukraine: looks like everyone will be waiting a little longer before coming home with the new little ones. The Ukrainian Government has issued a 10 days wait for the child's passport. This adds another 10 days in addition to the 10 days you have to wait to get your court decree. Unfortunately you need to get the court decree to apply for the passport :(
I know it is so easy to criticize the system, but the rules are the rules, and to be honest, I would just bite the bullet and deal with it. This little girl, by all means, is worth another 10 day wait. Yes it is just another way for them to make money off of adoptive parents, but that is the cost of international adoption and it is a "fee" you are going to pay regardless of where you go in this world. At some point, of every one's journey, you will line the pockets of someone who is only in it for the money, and you will encounter a rule/law that you will not agree with. But so what?? If you have chosen to adopt you are already showing strength, you are one of the one's who got over the negative aspects of adoption and moved on to receiving one of the greatest gifts that life can give, the chance to care for a child that someone else couldn't - and a chance to teach them to love! To any new perspective parents, don't let this change your mind, and don't let it discourage you. There are too many perfect children out there waiting for a family. We waited 2.5 years. I was neurotic, depressed, and thought that I would NEVER get to Ukraine, but I look back now and it was all just a small moment in time, for a life time of happiness. IT IS ALL WORTH IT!! TRUST ME!

My beautiful baby!

2007-08-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get a few "natural' pictures of her just being Olena! Teddy is really hers. One of her best friends in fact. Jason and I bought him 1 week before we left for Ukriane, with the intentions of taking it with us, but we forgot. But since the second we came home, he is has always been by her side! He even occasionally misbehaves and Olena puts him in the corner - it is really cute to watch!

Anyhow, I thought I would share the pictures, they turned out so good. I was really happy. I got the one of her and teddy looking at each other in sepia tone and I am going to put it on my newly painted living room wall.

A few of my favorites!

2007-07-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's been tough!

2007-07-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Olena riding Shadow

This is Brandy

I just love this picture, not sure why. It just seems so simple.

My little farm girl!

Just as the title states....it has been tough. These past few weeks my little darling has officially made her transition into the terrible twos :( We are back to throwing tantrums when we don't get our way. It is nowhere near as bad as when we come home, but nonetheless they happen. It is somewhat comical to watch because she dramatically runs and lunges forward throwing herself onto the floor. The second she hits the floor she jumps back up and does it again in another direction - oh and with no regard to what is in the way. She has met several pieces of furniture up close and personal the past two weeks. I have also resorting to sending her to bed when she is bad or out of hand. We were using the corner but the new fits have including slamming her head on the wall while in the corner. Today she caught the corner of the door jam and ended up with a big egg on her head so the safest place for her to be is in the bed. I don't let her get off the bed and she has to lay there until her mood changes.

We have also put the potty training on hold. There is no training involved anymore. She knows what to do and when to do it, she just doesn't want to. She did great for about two weeks, then she just started going down hill. It got to the point where she didn't even try to go, she would just pee her pants and wait until we noticed. I am not going to waste money on pull ups either because she does the same exact thing. I even tried the cool touch and those just irritated her because they were cold, so she would just take it off and run around naked. I figured she obviously is not ready so we will just wait.

We have had many good days though and have been very busy. We went to my aunt and uncle's house, and went horse back riding. Olena did great. She wasn't scared one bit, and rode the horse like it was something she has done her whole life. It was crazy. She got right on, grabbed the saddle, and away she went. My aunt was very proud of her horse...I felt bad because she was so nervous having Olena up there. It was hot and the flies were biting the horse so he was a little jumpy. And as you will see in the pictures, this horse Shadow, was pretty big. We also went to the Cherry Festival and seen some beautiful chalk drawings. It reminded me of Mary Poppins. Many of these artist were high school students too, unbelievable. Then this past Sunday we had a ladies day and me, Olena and my mom spent the day at the beach. My little fish had a blast. She has no fear of the water, which is pretty scary. But she is trying to make herself swim so I would say next summer she will have the hang of it. No life preservers or floaties were allowed so she would walk out (of course I stayed right next to her) all the way until the water was at her mouth and she was on her very tippy toes. Then she would just "run" back and forth in the water, kicking and lifting herself out of the water and laughing her butt off. It was so funny! Another thing she loves about the beach is trashing the sand castles...even the ones that we didn't make. I felt so bad because all these little kids were working so diligently on their masterpieces and then here comes Olena. She would stake out the shore....find a victim....take off and just run right through the middle....then the run of victory -she would make a full circle around back to our chairs, hide out for a minute and just laugh!!! and yes, you could see the horns :) It kills me just how smart and clever she truly is. I know she is just laughing inside about how clueless we all are. She plays us for fools, I just know it :O)

Anyhow, enjoy the pics and I will update in a few weeks. We have a lot of plans coming up and we are getting ready to do some painting in the house, so things will be busy.

2007-07-25T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have gotten a few comments and emails about her hair being so blond...in reality, yes it has lighten quite a bit but you can tell that it is 'sun bleached' ! I am sure that it will darken back up this fall. But the main reason it looks so light is because her skin has gotten so dark. I edit and brighten the photos, but to see her in person you can really see the change. We were talking to Gene about it and he said that B.M. has 'gypsy/Romanian' decent so that is why she is starting to show the 'olive' completion.

my little twerp was actually able to pattle this boat all around the pool. It was little a pattle boat but instead of using your feet, it has handles to use your arms. It took her some time to realize that she needed to use both arms at the same time instead of one at a time. She loved it.

All Yogi'ed out....she has on her Yogi tee shirt and camping hat.

The cooler was in the back of the truck and it sits high. We were too lazy to climb back there to get the drinks out so when we needed something we just lifted Olena over the side and had her get it!! Hey isn't that why we all have kids??? :)))

More pictures to come...

2007-07-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

We just returned from another weekend of camping and Little Miss Olena was beside herself in joy! Actually me and daddy cheated a little and only camped one night, she spent Friday/Saturday with my parents, then Saturday/Sunday Jason and I joined the party. Overall she had a great time. It was Jellystone Camp Ground so she got to meet Yogi Bear and BooBoo which was probably the "best moment of her life" (at least up until this point) she thought that they were hysterical and she talked about them all weekend!!! She had lunch with Yogi and he sat on Dadu's (gpa) lap, of course that was funny!!!! Then she went on a wagon ride and Yogi kept getting off at camp sites and stealing their food and picnic baskets, this brought the girl to her knees in laughter especially when Yogi started to chase Dadu around the tree to get his sandwich. After dinner we got to boogie with Yogi at the dance party, and to top off the night we went on a glow stick walk with BooBoo! OMG!! can't you just feel the excitement! LOL! this extremely excited little girl was even talking about BooBoo in her sleep on Saturday night....good lord what will Disney World bring??? I did get a few pictures so I will post in a day or too, at this moment I am feeling too lazy to walk upstairs and get my camera.

I want to share some exciting news about another "Forever Family" the Abella Family have adopted 3 beautiful children from Ukraine and they will be home soon!!!! Keep them coming :) I don't want to give much more info than that for privacy reasons, but please know that there are still children there waiting for thier mommy's and daddy's! It is so great knowing that this is 3 more lives that will forever be changed for the better!! God Bless them and all of the others who are touched by these precious children.

I've been tagged...

2007-07-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Tonya (Kissack blog) tagged me! Just great :) Now I am supposed to say 4 new things I've experienced in the last 4 years and 4 new things I hope to experience in the next 4 years. This is actually making me kinda nervous....let me think a minute

o.k. my experiences are ~ I have become a mommy (to the cutest little girl on the planet).

I travelled to Europe.

I fell in love with my husband all over again when he became a daddy (ooohhh isn't that sweet?).

and finally and most important I started to believe in the power of God! I don't want to say that I "found" God, because He was there all along, I just wasn't listening.

Things I would like to experience ~ moving into a bigger home so that we can expand our family.

I hope one day to feel satisfied and proud of my parenting and know that I truly did my best and gave it 110%

To adopt again or give birth (doesn't matter, as long as one or the other happens within the next 4 years)!

Take a "family" vacation with just the three of us - I would LOVE to go to Alaska!

Well there you have it!! Now you all know me just a little bit better.

There is one problem now though, I am not sure if there are any "rules" to this game. If I need to tag another "blogger", I'm screwed...because besides Tonya and the White's (who don't blog much) I don't know of anyone else who has a blog. So if you see your name, I guess you can just send out an email and carry on the game :)

Jennifer * Jodilynn B. * Uncle John * Kaitlyn

Lazy days of summer...

2007-07-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of written posts but I honestly don't have much to say about anything interesting. We have been enjoying the warm days and doing the bare minimum. The house could really use a good dusting, and I can only imagine what is growing in my toilet bowl, but I figure what the heck, Olena will only be 2 once, I might as well enjoy her :) **sounds like a good excuse anyway?!?! **

I hurt my back last Friday and spent this past weekend doing nothing but sitting in the recliner. I never felt so much pain in my life!! It hurt to move, it hurt to be still, it was ridiculous. Today has been the best day so far - I am moving around with a dull achy pain verses the sharp stabbing pain :)

We are also working on potty training. We started about a week and a half ago. It is going well but I was really expecting it to be easier. She only has about 1 accident every other day, but she won't go by herself. She waits for us to "remind" her or make her go, and when she does we have to help with the removing of the pants and getting her on the potty. She won't use the potty chair so we got one of the those insert able seats with a stool next to the toilet but she is just so darn small it is a lot of work for her. She wears a pull up at night and if we are leaving the house, but in panties the rest of the time. She is too comfortable in the pull up and will just let it flow. With panties on, she can feel it and will come running to me when she realizes what happened. Which usually results in a pee trail across my house and an empty bladder by the time we make it to the potty, while tearing off clothes and trying to maneuver the toilet seat. I took for granted the fact that she was potty trained in the orphanage so I figured it would be a piece of cake, but I failed to remember how strict they were with the potty schedule, and they remained sitting there until they went.

She goes to nina and dadu's house on Thursdays and Fridays. (Nina was Nana - my mom - but one day she just starting calling her Nina?? and Dadu is my dad. When we introduced him as her daduska - grandpa in Russian - she started calling him dadu.) It gives us a break to get a few things done and have some alone time, and my mom takes her to a gymnastics class on Thursday night. We had her in daycare 3 days a week but I quickly changed my mind about that and took her out after 3 weeks. I am sure that there are plenty of good day care centers out there but I am just too neurotic to have them care for my daughter. She now stays home and my best friend cares for her. They have a "preschool" schedule that they follow, and she is much happier when I come home :)

She is now talking is sentences most of the time. Though she needs reminding every once in awhile. She has a habit of being impatient and starts to whine and babble...which of course drives me crazy! So we are working on this. If any of you read the Kissack blog, Tonya recommends Raising Godly Tomatoes. A guide to raising your children to be obedient. I ready the entire website, and we are currently trying to follow the recommendations. We need a little more work because unfortunately it requires you to have 100% control over your children which is impossible for us because we do both work. I have a better advantage at that I only miss out on 4 hours of her day, but that is 4 hours that I loose. She understands the consequence that come with her actions, because the second she misbehaves she either stomps herself to the corner or grabs her tush and sits down and starts to say "no cry mommy - good girl mommy" . I am strong and I don't let it pass without correction regardless of the fact that she is so darn cute. The biggest problem is the fact that she knows it is wrong, but she is determined to try and get her way! so we spend a lot of time trying to correct one thing, over and over, and over again.

I was positive she could count yet I haven't heard her do it alone, unprompted. That is until today, she counted all the way to 10 without hesitation. I was very proud, yet crazy out of my mind because she is sooo smart, but also stubborn beyond belief. She does it when she wants and how she wants - period the end. The ABCs too, she hears them 900 times a day, but yet she will NOT repeat a single letter. What do you do??

practicing cartwheels...

2007-07-02T18:33:00.001-07:00

She's a natural

Detroit Fireworks....from Canada!

2007-07-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

oh boy!! cotton candy :)

o.k. I am guilty. I tried to keep her awake by loading her with sugar.

It worked too, she stayed wired right up until the point we put her in her car seat to go home. It was lights out immediately! The sugar hangover caused quite a crabby little girl the next day, so I don't recommend this method :(

Detroit skyline

We decided to take Olena to see her first fireworks display at the Detroit Target Fireworks Display. She was in complete awe and did great! she did spend the majority of the grand finale hanging from my neck, but she had a wonderful time. I have to admit we cheated though, and watched them from the Canadian side. My best friend lives in Windsor so we had dinner with them, then sat Riverside with a great view. On a positive note, we got to watch the show against the Detroit skyline, not a view we normally get.

Fun playing outside!

2007-06-26T19:35:00.001-07:00

she got up from our bug hunting mission and walked away very unpleased with me. She just looked at me sighed, said "no bug mommy" She had this very serious look on her face. She then stomped away. Look at her little fists....and notice the tough guy walk!!

Eating cookies and taking pictures with daddy!

Who can't love this face?!!

Having lots of fun!!

I LOVE this smile:) it just melts my heart.

Here she is making bug antennas for me! this is what started the bug hunt!

So where are these bugs mommy??

Pictures with the rest of the clan!

2007-06-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

I had the camera outside taking pictures while we played. She told me "pictures and puppies mommy" so we had each dog sit while they posed together. As you can tell, they were less than pleased :)

Mugsy, our youngest, is 4.

100 lbs and obviously upset with having to take the picture. Note the tongue sticking out and Olena giving him a lecture (and pointing her figure at him) about how he must "stay muggy"

Laney, the "middle" child, is 5 and as you can tell, Olena does not particularly appeal to her. She is often very annoyed by the ear tugging, eye poking and horse back riding.....great, now picture taking!!!

Luther is the old man of the house, he is 6. He loves her to death though by his expression you would think otherwise :) He is very protective, and follows her all around the house. I am assuming it is because of his undying love for her, but it might have something to due with the fact he usually gets "rewarded" for following her because she often shares her snacks. Or at least leaves them within his reach.

Lord hear my prayer....

2007-06-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

On a good note, we had our first family camping trip this past weekend and we had a great time. On the other hand...we are now suffering the consequences of what happens when an adopted toddler has too much fun for 3 days in a row and is completely off schedule. Can you say DEMON?? She has been completely obnoxious and extremely whiny - which I have a real hard time dealing with. I know that toddlers are going to be hard work but give me a break!!! is it really necessary to do nothing but whine for 2 days straight?? I kid you not, everything that has come out of this child's mouth today since the very second she got out of bed had been in the form of whining or crying! ALL DAY!!!!!! I am at wits end, in case you can't tell. I know I will laugh about this later but right now, I am not very happy!
Back to the camping. We had a fabulous time. She was very excited about the idea of camping, though I know she really had no idea what is was, she talked about it and asked me a million times on Thursday if we were "going camping?" it was really cute. then she would precede to tell me "lake.....beach.....camping......bikes.....fishies.....o.k. mommy??" The whole week before I was telling her about the different things we were going to see when we went camping. At least now I know she really does listen to me :) She never did stay up long enough at night to enjoy the bonfire or smores, but she had tons of fun none the less. We spent about 5 hours at the beach on Lake Michigan. She LOVED the sand and spent a majority of the time rolling in it! We rode banana bikes, she got to drive around on her new little tykes 4 wheeler, and she played around the cabin and caught bugs. As you will see in the pictures she had a great time getting dirty too!
We came home Sunday and obviously the excitement of the weekend really wore on her because she hasn't been sleeping good. The past couple nights she has had night terrors, and she is beyond tired. So crabby has been the mood in this household for the past couple of days. All I can do now is just pray for the patience!!

As I sit here typing this I feel that someone has heard my prayers because Olena is walking around the basement pushing her baby around in the stroller and she is getting very upset....see this baby coos and crys, and right now, it is crying!!! and will not stop :) and she hates this!! so I am listening to her run around the basement with this baby screaming "stop baby.....stop baby....."

pay backs are a bitch!! LOL!!!!

AAHHH the beach!!!

2007-06-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

she loved the beach and the sand, but swimming was a no no, the water was really cold so she was NOT happy with us when we took her in!!

Isn't camping fun???

2007-06-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Note the saying on the shirt....." I do all my own stunts"

That couldn't be truer!

2007-06-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

sporting her new pink cowboy boots....yeeehaw!

As promised!

2007-06-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy busy over the past few weeks so I apologize for the lack of posts, but a least I was able to keep the pictures going :O)
A few weeks ago we had a "baby shower" with Jason's side of the family. It turned out great! She had a great time with her little cousin, whom she had just met and she was really social with the adults. She got a bunch of new summer clothes, some outdoor toys and of course more and more toys!! This kid has her own toy shop over here. What happened to "not spoiling the baby?"

She is starting to talk in sentences and is doing really well with her pronunciations. She still refuses to say her ABCs or count but I am determined that she knows both. There is NO possible way that one child can hear something so many times and NOT know it by now. If she can memorize the songs on Annie after watching it 10 times, I know that she can count and say her ABCs. She got this leap frog toy from the shower, and it sings the ABCs, she hits that button at least 100 times a day!

No luck with growing lately. Though she is much taller and is now about 3 inches taller than when we got home, she is not gaining weight. She is perfectly healthy and doesn't show any symptoms of mal nutrition so we're not going to worry about it. She eats really well and loves just about everything we give her! Just a good metabolism is guess - lucky girl! The bad part is now for the summer all of her 12 months clothes are falling off so I had to resort to going to Target and buying some new shorts in 9 months so that she can run without her shorts ending up around her ankles! I even went to the thrift store to buy her some cotton elastic shorts to play outside in and I bought a pair of 3 month and several 6 months, they all fit her like a glove!

This past Monday was her first day at "school", and she LOVES it. There is a great day care center near my work and it is really structured. She is in a class of 12 other 2 -2 1/2 year olds. They have a lesson plan each day and follow the same schedule we do at home so it is great. She is going there 2 days a week for about 6 hours. I felt so bad when I dropped her off on Monday because I was so worried she would think that I was leaving her at another 'desky dom' (aka orphanage) she told Jason the other day "NO desky daddy" - it broke my heart. I dropped her off at 9 am and lasted until 11 before calling. The teacher said she was doing great. When I got there at 3:30 to pick her up she was so mad because she didn't want to leave. I ended up staying for about 30 minutes while she played on the play ground with the other children. She was definitely in her comfort zone!

Behavior at home has been going good too. We have been working on a few things, and they are slow coming but we are making progress. She likes to play games when we call her to come to us, so we are practicing to come the first time she is called. She hears us and does not ignore us but she "teases". Laughs and giggles with delight at the thought that she is being mischievous. Little turd. The fact that she is so darn cute, doesn't help. She also grunts a lot instead of talking to us or answering our questions, this drives me nuts!!! So we are working on "using our words" We have established a schedule for the day and we have done our best to stick to it and it really makes a huge difference in her behavior. She knows what to expect throughout the day and I think that really gives her a piece of mind. She has a hard time when she is over stimulated, so we try to keep things simple and stay on schedule. The naughty chair is also working well. I will admit I was never a fan of the naughty chair but she really HATES it, so it works well. She sits there until she stops crying and can compose herself properly. It usually takes about 1-2 minutes. We are trying to get her to understand saying "sorry" is necessary when she does something wrong or she is mean, but she down right refuses to say it. I have no idea why? she just grunts! Guess that is sorry in Lana language.

She will be starting gymnastics in a few weeks. This will be perfect for her. She loves to climb and swings from everything, and she is really strong. I am sure that she will be a natural. I would really like to get her in ballet too, she constantly walks and runs on her tip toes. Besides she will look so darn cute in a tutu!

Well looks like my time is up, Jason is being a nerd and is sitting here waiting for HIS computer time. I will update in a few weeks.

I have noticed that there is a big flux of families traveling in the upcoming weeks, so please keep them and all of those beautiful children in your prayers. Granted we are going on with our lives, but we cannot forget those we left behind. They are all still there waiting for thier mommy and daddy. Take care everyone, and good luck to all of the families waiting to travel.

check back tomorrow.

2007-06-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

I promise that by tomorrow I will update with a new post. I have lots to share but the hubby is sitting here patiently awaiting his time on the computer. These pictures take so long to download. Sorry

some things will never change!!!

2007-06-04T18:22:00.001-07:00

At least the choice of headwear has improved! :)

Yup, she can still scream in disagreement!

why is it necessary to stick out your appendages while mommy takes pictures?

what a difference 6 months make...

2007-06-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

6 months later.

Posing in her favorite airplane PJs.

This picture was taken on 12/1/06, the day after court. These three little girls didn't know it, but their lives were about to completely change.

Angelina White, Olena and Lyra Kissack.

Looking at everyones blog, you can really see what a difference there is just in these last 6 months. It is amazing!!!

2007-05-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

YUMMY!! ice cream sandwich!

2007-05-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

She actually wanted me to take pictures this time! What a change from the screaming toddler on the porch huh? She is such a ham!

2007-05-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Watching the plane from her playscape. She has a new facination with airplanes!

2007-05-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

Peanuts!!

2007-05-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Holy cow! this is what you will say once I download and post the picture of what my living room looked like today! First, let me start by saying Happy Belated Mother's Day to everyone. I had a marvalous day! Olena and daddy bought me a pair of garnet earrings. Garnet is Olena's birthstone. I wanted a pair of earrings that I could wear daily. Everything I have is dressy and it just isn't feasible while crawling around on the floor with a toddler. But I love them, and I am very impressed by the gesture. Daddy cooked breakfast and took care of the chores for the day, and Olena promised to behave all day and much to my delight, she fulfilled her promise.

Now for the fun part. One word sums it all up....packing peanuts!! I got a toy organizer in the mail today that I ordered from a catalog. It was a big box, and Olena was so freakin' excited about this box for some reason. (Now I am beginning to think that she has x-ray vision??) I was explaining to her that there was something for her toys in the big box. She kept dancing around it, telling me "open, open, open" it was ridiculous. I had assumed that her excitement was related to the idea that she heard the word TOY and assumed that it was a new toy for her . I finally gave in and decided to open the darn box so that she could see that it was nothing exciting. Boy was I in for a surprise. I cut open this box, while she anxiously awaited next to it about to wiggle right out of her skin with excitement. In side this box was another box about half the size and the rest of it was STUFFED with packing peanuts!!!! If you could have only seen her face - her eyes were huge and her face gleamed with pure happiness, the next thing I knew packing peanuts were flying everywhere. She was liturgy in the box swimming in these darn things. I just sat there and watched her in complete awe because she was laughing so hard and having so much fun. She was pretending to swim, then she was throwing them in the air catching them, she realized that they crumbled so she started squishing them in her hands and stomping on them. While doing all of this she was laughing hysterically. But this laugh was different. It was so angelic...I think she felt completely happy, and carefree. That may sound weird to some of you, and I hadn't really noticed anything "sad" about her before this but these children really do carry a lot of "baggage" with them. Even at Olena's age. Over the course of these past 6 months I have watched her change and grow emotionally, and she has made great changes for the good. I don't see any signs of abuse, or neglect. We haven't even experienced any attachment issues, but yet I know the bottom line is that she grew up without a mommy or daddy and though the baby house did what they can, they can't replace us. She has never really been able to be a carefree child and I thought she had learned that after being home a few weeks, but she proved me wrong today. TODAY was the day that my daughter learned how to be a child! she used her imagination! she didn't have a worry in her little mind, and she was completely happy. It is a moment that I will never forget. O.K. now back to the packing peanuts! 1 1/2 hours later, my brown carpet was no where to be found, and neither was the 2 year old who created the mess. (Later to be discovered laying on the floor, camouflaged into the rest of the mess because she too was covered in crushed packing peanuts.) We had to leave for parent- tot class in 30 minutes and I had to find a way to pick this mess up. Heeelllloooo shop vac! I brought out the big guns - and it worked like a charm. Carpet, couch, dogs and Olena were all sucked clean in a matter of 10 minutes! Hooray! I had to stop half way through to empty the canister, and then I remembered to take a picture, so I will be sure to post that soon. You will crack up! It was such a great moment in time and it was the perfect Mother's Day gift (even though a few days late) I hope that she too remembers this day! How did she know that there was something fun to do in that box?!?!

2007-05-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

STOP!!!! NO MORE PICTURES MOMMY!!!!!

2007-05-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

Just hangin' out!

2007-05-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

So proud :O)

2007-05-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Pool time! This is actually Mugsy's pool...or should I say WAS Mugsy's pool. It was our first real warm day and Jason filled up the pool in the morning for the dog. (This is his favorite thing to do) Well by late afternoon it was pretty hot out and pool water was nice and warm. There was no way Mugsy was going to have all the fun by himself, Miss Olena insisted that she too play in the pool. The bikini came after the full clothing submerson.

2007-05-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was originally attempting to get a picture of her and Teddy in their rocker, but this was all she was going to do to participate!

2007-05-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

This is the first time she has gotten to play with the hose! She looks so serious.

2007-05-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

Olena playing on the new swing set we just bought her! She is brave and doesn't have a problem with any of it, she even tackles the rope latter with ease. Keep in mind she is about as big as a sack of potatoes :O)

Sunny days of May

2007-05-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry we haven't posted in awhile. Jason is guilty of downloading music onto our computer which was infected with a Trojan virus, so needless to say, our system is temporarily down. Which really sucks!! We lost a ton of pictures and of course the luxury of updating the blog! We are using a laptop but it is not hooked up to anything, and it is crammed here on our desk, squeezed in between the one that doesn't work! Nice huh?? I am waiting for Rickie to take the broken home so her boyfriend can hopefully retrieve some of the stuff on it. In the mean time we are suppose to get a new one so it seems so pointless to take the time to hook this one up to the printer, scanner and camera. However, not hooking it up, means no pictures for you. And as we all know, you come here for the pictures :0) I have a ton of cute ones too that I would like to post. Maybe I will take some time over the weekend and see if I can get it done.

But back to the important stuff, Olena! She is having a great time. Enjoying the summer weather that has finally graced us. Just like every other kid, going outside is the first thing she wants to do when she wakes up and we have to drag her in at night to get her in bed. I believe she would live out there if I'd let her. She has everything that she needs, she got a Little Tykes Play house, and car. Then a few weeks ago we bought her a play scape from Toys R Us. It has a club house, slide, rock climber, swings....the whole shabang! Spoiled ya think?? oh and she shares the pool with Mugsy. Poor dog! He is a pool freak and he has had this pool for about 3 years now and out of the 3 dogs he is the only one who uses it. Then here comes Olena....now it is her pool! today I looked away for 2 seconds and when I turned back around there she was laying down in the pool kicking and splashing, laughing as hard as she could with Mugsy standing over her licking her face like crazy. The funny part was that she was fully dressed; sneakers, jeans, onsie, and loaded diaper, eeeewwwww! which I was unaware of until I rescued her. At least I thought I was rescuing her, she on the other hand thought that I was ruining the most fun she has ever had in her life, and boy was she not happy with me! AHH the life of a two year old!! but we are having a blast. She is trying to talk in full sentences, however she speaks what I like to call the "Lana language" she is saying something, I just have no idea what? She listens remarkably well, but stills finds it necessary to argue everything I say. No one else, just mommy. While Jason and I are outside doing yard work she is given small tasks to do to help out, and she really enjoys being a "helper". She walks around all proud of herself. She also has house hold chores like setting the table, feeding the cats their treats, watering her strawberry plant and cleaning her room. She does everything that she is suppose to and she knows what is expected of her. These kids strive so much to please you, it is amazing. They just want to belong and be loved. It is very common for her to walk up to Jason or I and out of the blue, give us a hug and say "love you". It is so heartwarming to know that she actually understands love and understands how to give it. I know I have said this a million times, but I look at her everyday and still can't believe she is mine, and how perfect she truly is! We are so lucky to be her parents and I hope every last one of you out there waiting find this happiness as well.
It is getting really late and I am exhausted so I must go now. Happy Mother's Day in case I don't post before then and I promise to have pictures next time around.

Easter!

2007-04-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Spring Everyone! Though if you are from here in Michigan you already know that spring is late coming this year. As Olena says….”bbbrrrr….cold”!

We experienced our first Easter with our little one and she enjoyed it very much. The idea of baskets filled with toys and candy was very intriguing to her! All I heard all day was “Yummm, cacki” (aka candy) We had an egg hunt in the house and she loved it, then we had Jason’s family over for breakfast. After nap, we made our way over to my grandparent’s house where we had dinner and shared some time with our aunts, uncles and cousins. The kids taught her how to slide down the carpeted stairs on her butt and once she figured out how fast she could go, there was no stopping her…she was obsessed. She is a climber and a jumper. It drives me crazy but she has fun. Her Nana and Dadu built her a puppet stage, which is GORGOUS! As you might remember she has a little obsession with the movie “The Sound of Music” and one of her favorite parts is when they put on the show for the Captain and Baroness with the marionette puppets. So my parents built a replica of the stage. She was so excited and even resorted to hugging it when they set it up! Lucky me…looks like I will be taking up puppeteering very soon LOL!!!

Things are honestly going GREAT! She is growing like crazy though she could stand to gain a few more pounds. She is just growing so tall so fast, her weight can’t keep up. She will get some meat on her bones, and then spurt up a half-inch. Since coming home in December she has grown over 2 ½ inches taller. Right now she only at 23lbs but she is completely healthy so I am not too worried about it. She has a very good appetite and pretty much eats anything I give her.

A few weeks ago we got the results of our bio family search. Our translator located her birthparents, and her biological brother (who was adopted as well and lives in Spain). This was great news for us and we were excited to read what he had learned. We were able to get a few pictures, and got a few questions answered. We are going to keep the details private because this is her life, not ours. When she is old enough to understand we will share what we have with her and let it be her decision on what she does with it. It is a touchy situation and I never thought that I would care. Before the adoption Jason and I discussed it and my feelings were much different. I didn’t care about her biological family. I felt that I was going to give her a new life and what happened in the past was exactly that…. the past. The only reason I wanted to complete the search was for medical information and for her peace of mind when she gets older. But once Gene contacted us with the story and pictures I started to feel differently. I could see how much Olena really did look like her bio-mother, I learned about her father and what type of man he really is, instead of what I thought he was. I passed a lot of judgment on 2 people whom I never knew and this was unfair. I think God brought this to me for a reason. Now I have a new respect for them, and I have a new and better understanding of my daughter. I am very happy with our decision and I hope that she too is able to look at this in a positive light when the time comes.

2007-03-28T08:28:00.000-07:00

Daddy thinks now that she likes motorcycles, he should be able to buy one!! Keep wishing!

2007-03-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Olena on a friends motorcycle!

2007-03-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Olena with a few of her cousins...starting from the left: Kaitlyn, Kevin, Luke, Cate, Claire, and Mackie.

2007-03-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Finally and family picture.

Jason, Olena and Christina Warchol

March 24, 2007

Spring Picture!!

2007-03-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

So much going on!

2007-03-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay. Things have been pretty busy around here and my computer has not been on the blitz the past few weeks.

Anyhow, we have been home now for 3.5 months. She fits our family like a glove and she is slowing molding into this "little lady" She is so vibrant and full of happiness, love....oh, and stubbornness :O)

We have spent more time with the extended family lately and she is finally becoming part of the gang instead of just being a bystander. With the few nice days we have had we have been able to take her to the park - and of course she loves it. And we have had her ears pierced! OMG is she so cute!!!! I love it and I am so glad I decided to do it. It did however, cause some controversy with the grandparents and daddy! But mommy rules the roost (LOL!!) so I won the battle, and we did it. She loves them just as much. She twirls them herself and says "ooh la la, prettty"!

I have been reading the adoption boards lately and it all brings back so many emotions and feelings of loss and frustration. I try not to read to much information but it just sucks me in like the black hole!!! . My aunt gave me an article out of the local newspaper and it stated that in 2006 there were 490 children adopted in Ukraine by US citizens. That number was so low and it was sad seeing that and knowing that there were so many less because of the shut down. Now you hear they want to limit the number of adoptions per year?...and that limit is not far off of the that 490 statistic! I get so anxious reading about it and think to myself, please don't get harder!! What if we need to go back?? I am not sure why yet, but part of me is still being pulled to Ukraine for some reason. I have a strong feeling that we have not brought "everyone" home yet. We'll see what the future holds for us? Well I am going to try and post some pictures hopefully it will work. Good luck to those of you were are in the middle of all this, but hold on and hold on tight. Yes, just like everyone says, it is worth it. I have the 26 month old daughter to prove it. You and your children will be in our prayers.

The Moms2Moms Sale...

2007-03-10T20:06:00.000-08:00

Today I had the pleasure of experiencing my first moms2moms sale. I am sorry to say this but there are some crazy ass mothers in this world. I hate to offend anyone reading this but OMG!!!
These women can be brutal. Perhaps after a few more sales, I myself might metamorphosis into one of these raging mothers on a mission, but for the mean time I will sit back and watch them beat each up other for that "must have" item! Overall I did very well. Jason was nervous and did expect me to spend our savings on this huge "garage sale" but I manged to go in and come out with over half of my money left (which was $30) and I got A LOT! Family and friends have been extremely gracious in buying us clothes however everything that she has received has been winter or fall, so I have been buying summer clothes here and there so that I am prepared. I was able to get 6 complete outfits and they are Gymboree and Carters, 2 pair of shoes, a baby stroller for her dolly, 4 books for her and 2 books for myself - all in all, I did well and I had a good time. Tonight, I have already scoped the website and there are about 15 sales going on next weekend in the area :O) boy oh boy!!!!

Olena of course is still marvelous. Talking up a storm and making us laugh everyday. She loves to be funny and loves to have people gush over her. She knows how and when to turn on the charm and boy does she play it up!!! I am telling you that this kid is a born entertainer. She has started to sing along with the music from the "Annie" sound track and she is actually using the words. When she hears the melodies at the beginning of the song she can tell me what song it is...Tomorrow, Dumb dog, Hard Life etc! It is great and reassuring to hear her singing in English. She does use a lot of English when talking, however we are having trouble getting her to use full sentences, everything is one or two words. And the little stinker will NOT count. We work with her every single day and we count everything! but she has absolutely no interest or intention of doing it herself. She wont even repeat the numbers after us. I know she understands what we are trying to do, she is just being stubborn.

We have finally completed all of our Doctors appointments and followups and she has received the clean bill of health. We had to treat her for intestinal parasites which is normal among orphanage children, and he have started treatment for TB since her skin test was positive. We assume that it is from the BCG vaccination but her reaction was much larger than they usually see with BCG so we decided that it was best to move forward with treatment. She does have a very light heart murmur too, but an echo cardiogram proved that her heart is normal and there are no other causes for concern.

PS: nothing is stone yet but Jason and I had a few conversations over the past couple of weeks and it looks as if we might be returning to Ukraine. Olena might have a new sister in 2009!! I will keep you posted!

Now and Then:

2007-02-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

The first picture was taken today, February 17 2007: home 2 months. The second picture we took the 1st day we met her. We were in the sleeping room, spending some time alone. This was on November 14, 2006. What a difference and how quickly she is growing and changing! We are so lucky!!!!!

Home 2 months!

2007-02-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow it will be 2 months since we have returned home from Ukraine. When I think back to all of it now, it is so hard to believe that it was only 61 days ago we stepped onto US soil as a family of three! It feels as if Olena has been here from the beginning. I cannot explain enough how perfect this child is! It completely amazes me at how well she is adjusting and developing, physically and mentally. I really think that it is the workings of the Mykolayiv Baby House. I prayed every night for God to watch over her until the day we could bring her home. He definitely blessed this baby by putting her in a place where she would be loved and cared for until we could meet her. She entered the orphanage at 5months - making her stay there just over a year and a half. She shows no signs of any attachment issues. She knows who her mommy and daddy is, and though she is very friendly to strangers, she is very careful and nervous about them. She loves to be cuddled and be rocked. She listens to directions extremely well. She has great eating and sleeping habits and she is unbelievably smart.

Her personality is also starting to show more and more everyday. It would not surprise me one bit if this little girl becomes an entertainer. She LOVES attention, all eyes must be on her. She loves music (and not just toddler/children songs) she listens to musicals, classical, and the Disney movie sound tracks. She is obsessed with "The Sound of Music" so we have to keep the sound track playing on her CD player at all times! Expect for nap and night time because then she likes to listen to her Mozart CD or John Lennons "Beautiful Boy". And she loves to make people laugh. Her forte' is funny faces!! She will make cheesy faces or funny eyes at you until you laugh at her! Then she cracks up at herself. I will try to find a few pictures of this.

Being first time parents has obviously been a big adjustment for us, and parenting a 2 year old right from the start has taken a lot of prayer but we learn something new from her everyday, just as she learns from us. We have truly accomplished a lot over the past 2 months and I am very proud of us, as a family. We will now continue to grow and love each other, and we will forever be grateful to God for bringing us half way around the WORLD to meet!

December 17th 2006
19lbs
30 1/4 inches tall
size: 12 mons.

February 17th 2007
24lbs
31 inches tall
size: 12 mons. pants and 18 mons. shirts

Worth the wait???

2007-02-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

You bet she was worth the wait...
I would have waited another 2 years if I knew she was my daughter!!!!

I went shopping at Target on Friday and found this onesie in the baby department! I couldn't resist. Lucky my little angel is still only wearing a 9-12 months becacuse the biggest size it came in was 9mons.

Anyhow, things are progressing nicely. She is still being very good, and is growing physically and mentally each day. Everyday she seems to pick up a new english word. We are still teaching her the sign languge, and she uses it daily. It has been about 3 weeks and she learns 1 new word each day. She can currently use about 7 words correctly on her own with no "reminders" or prompting. She remembers the sign, it is just reminding her of when to actually use them!
I have been thinking a lot lately about Ukraine and all of the friends that we made, and all of the children we met....I was really missing it. I will be honest, I never thought I would be saying that anytime soon. But I do truly miss it. The simplicity of it all! Jason and I will definatley return in a few years to take Olena to visit. I don't think we will adopt again from Ukraine but we will surely visit. Please don't assume I DON'T WANT to adopt again, it is just that the financial burden for us would not be possible again. We have so many other things that we need to focus on for our future that will require our money!!!! As for more kids though??? I think that I would honestly be happy with just her but I have always imagined having a large family. So in the next few years we are going to try to have a "homegrown" baby, then I think we will adopt again using the local county by becoming foster parents. It all sounds like the perfect idea but Who knows!!! Only time will tell!

" Please can I have some more cookie dough??"

This afternoon we made chocolate chip cookies, and someone quickly discovered how good the dough is!!!!

A few new pics...

2007-01-25T14:34:00.000-08:00

We can finally get some hair for a couple little ponies!! They look more like bug antennas but they are still cute.

She tried on her cousins goggles while at the pool for her birthday!!

This was a picture we took here at home for her announcements. I LOVE IT!! She is wearing the Christmas dress that her Dadu (aka dadushka/grandpa) picked out and bought for her. She looked so darn cute!

Happy Birthday Olena...

2007-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

We have been home just over 1 month and things are finally settling in. I am a mom! I can't believe it. Yes I am just now starting to feel like a parent. These past few weeks have been so emotional and chotiac that I haven't really had an opportunity to let it all set in. This past Saturday was her 2nd birthday. It was a great day...but I will get to that in a minute. Saturday was also the day that I think my heart finally realized what has happen to my life...this beautiful little girl. I somewhat "avoided" the idea of her birthday all week, then at the last minute (Saturday morning) I was scrambling around trying to get everything done. I didn't really want to celebrate her birthday. Yes - I said it! I know it sounds cruel but I started to think about it and for as long as I can remember, I have thought of birthdays as "YOUR" day...your day to get everything you want...do what you want...and have everyone spoil you. But in reality, it is a day for your parents too. A day for us to remember and smile about the day you were born, smile about the person you have become, and think about how it seems like just yesterday that the Doctor put you in their arms. I started to feel sad, because I did not have any of these memories. I don't even know what time of the day she was born.

Throughout the morning, I managed to get everything done and get to my parents house and still had a great time. We went to the Community indoor pool which is like a mini water park, with water slide and all. There were my 2 aunts, my mom, my bestfriend, my uncle and 7 of my little cousins (6yo-11yr) and we had a great time. She absolutely loved the water and wasn't nervous one bit. She even went down the water slide in my lap and screamed with joy the entire time down. After a few hours of that, we went back to my parents house, had pizza, cake and presents, then the aunts/uncle left and we had a slumber party. I felt bad because she didn't really play with them too much but they still tried to have a good time with her. They all absolutely adore her!! Then, Sunday morning we wrapped them all up and sent them outside to play in the snow. They pulled her around in a sled and each took turns carrying her around. Poor little thing. It was bad enough that she looked like the little boy in the Christmas Story, she could barely walk, all you could see were her eyes, and these kids were dragging her from one side of the yard to the other (my parents have over an acre of land!!!) it was pretty comical to watch.

Finally after the long weekend, I sat in her room Sunday night rocking her to sleep and thinking about the events of the previous days. There were lots of things that we did that were "firsts" in her life. I watched her face light up with joy as we sang Happy Birthday to her, I seen her curious eyes explore everything while we were in the pool, and I heard her squeels of joy when we went down the slide. These are all things that I will remember in the years to come, and the things that will warm my heart with each passing birthday. Then I kid you not, at that moment she sat up kissed me and said "LA LOU" (which is her way of saying "love you") that was it - right then and there- it hit me. I love my daughter, she was mine, and she is perfect for us. She is here with us learning how to be part of a family...she is learning how to love and to be loved. She is learning what it is like to be a little kid, and she is developing her own likes and dislikes. Granted I wasn't in her life when her little body came into this world, but I am with her now...when her spirit is being born. Happy Birthday Olena!

2007-01-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

One of her gifts from the "Tea Party"

A lot has happened since my last post and to start things off I would like to say that we are on perfect week number 2 that she has maintained her angel-like behavior. It is amazing and we are so happy. She is very smart and is picking up new things everyday. We have been teaching her to use sign language and she learns it so fast. I have been teaching her one word per day and that seems to be pretty easy for her!

This past Saturday we had a "Tea Party" babyshower...it was a lot of fun for her and the kids, and of course I thought it went beautifully. It was a great opportunity for extended family and friends to meet her, and it helped us to get some of the necessities that we really needed! We all had a great time and of course everyone ranted and raved about how cute and smart she was :O) I have to smile about that because I have been waiting for 2 years to get compliments on my daughter and I am loving every moment of it!!!! We got a TON of great gifts and some the cutest clothes. She will definately have style.

Then the final grand event is that I went back to work today! It was tough and yes I cried, but all in all it went really well. She was such a big girl and did not cry one bit...she stood at the door and waved and blew me kisses. My girlfriend who is caring for her said that she stood there at the door for about 15-20 minutes blowing kisses then turned to her and said "momma bye bye" then shut the door. I am only working 5 hours a day so it is not too bad and I love my job and coworkers so that makes the time go by really fast.

Other than that everything is going great. We are all happy and healthy and I wouldn't ask for anything more.

2007-01-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

One of the only decent pictures I got of her at the Tea Party!

What a Blessing from above!

2007-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

I know my last post was not too promising, but this week we have made GREAT progress. We are on day number 3 of a perfect little girl. And when I say perfect, I truly mean it. We have not had 1 tantrum, not one crying incident, she has obeyed EVERYTHING that I have asked her to do, she has been extremly easy at nap and bedtime and she is sleeping like she is hibernating. Today I had to wake her up at 9:30 - she went to bed at 8:45! I just can't believe it. Jason and I are in pure heaven right now. I know it will not be this way everyday but it has been nice to finally have some peace. It has given us an opportunity to get some real family time in and we have been able to bond a little more. It is so delightful having a happy toddler running around the house giggling, and singing!

Today we even had our first doctors appointment. She did great! We were there for 2 1/2 hours and she loved every minute of it and behaved the entire time. (she also hugged every kid in the waiting room, it was so sweet!) Of course she cried when they took blood but that was pretty tough I must admit. They had to take 3 vials out of her arm and it took a good 3 minutes - while I practically laid on top of her, a nurse held her arm, another nurse took the blood, and a third nurse collected and changed the vials. Quite the setup huh?? I honestly don't think she even noticed the needle, it seemed she was more mad about the fact that there were so many people hovering over her! Regardless, she handled herself very well and had a quick recovery. Despite this drama, she got a clean bill of health with the exception of a very mild heart murmur. We are going to go get a echocardiogram just to be safe but the doctor said not to worry. The Doctor was also extremly impressed with the progress she has made already. She can name several objects in a room, and she knows just about all the parts of her body. She is so unbelievably smart. Especially after these past few days, I can see how blessed we are with a child who is adapting very well. She belongs here and now she knows where she fits in, and I think that is really making a lot of the difference. .

Happy 2007!

2007-01-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone! Boy has it been a hell of a year already LOL New Years came and went while we slept. We were in bed by 10:30 and did not have one regret. Yes we are nerds but we were very tired and sick so we had reason to call it a night early. . All three of us have been sick for about a week now with the flu and we have all been miserable including little Miss Olena. On top of being sick she cut 3 teeth this week...all I can say is OMG!!! I definitely got a reality check about being a parent. We have spent several days with nothing but Olena sleeping and screaming. We quite enjoyed the sleeping part but we dreaded the fact that sooner or later she was going to wake up and screaming was going to continue. I truly felt sorry for the poor little thing but when your running a fever and already feel like your head is going to explode her screaming is kinda hard to handle! Today however we are making progress in the right direction. She only had 2 fits and they were pretty minor in comparison to the past week, and she actually played today. She also ate everything in sight which made me happy because I know that she has lost a pound or two. Jason and I also still feel a little under the weather but we should be good as new in a couple more days.

Things have been tough...and I would be lying if I said that we were all peachy keen. We of course are still trying to adjust to her and learn to be good parents. And she is trying to adjust to us and this whole new life. And it is so tough because in the back of your mind you are always wondering "are the choices I'm making really o.k for an adopted 2 year old who still is learning to love and trust me". Everyday that I deal with a tantrum, or discipline her, that thought is there... just lingering in my head!?! I guess all I can do is hope for the best and hope that she knows and understands that we love her more than life.

On a good note she is changing so much. Each morning I walk into her room I see a change in that beautiful little face. He hair is getting longer and is so much shinier. Her eyes are brighter and cheeks are rosey. She is picking up words like crazy and is kinda like a little parrot, she attempts to repeat everything we say. She is still discovering new things everyday that completely amaze her and she LOVES every animal she meets. We went to my girlfriends house the other day and she has a cat that is actually use to children. Olena held that darn cat and squeezed the dear life out of her for over 35 minutes. It was amusing to watch her just sit there and completely love this cat to death. (She tries to pick our cats up all the time but they don't go for that, they are smart...they run!)

We are thankful everyday to God for this beautiful gift...and we continue to pray for normality and home of happiness and peace! (Hopefully this prayer won't take as long to answer LOL!!!)

2006-12-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes my horns are hidden and I look like a true angel!!

-This is one of those precious moments where she couldn't be sweeter-

2006-12-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

Now this thing is cool!

-Jason's Aunt and Uncle bought her a "sit and spin" for x-mas, she absolutly loves it...while sitting and standing-

2006-12-25T19:06:00.000-08:00

Lunch is good mommy, but I am beat!

This was a very funny meal...I have several pictures of the progression of this little nap!

2006-12-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

This foil stuff is amazing!!

-Nana made her some aluminum foil bunny ears-

2006-12-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

Lets get ready to go outside and play!!

-She looks very concerned about this idea?-

1st week home!

2006-12-25T18:18:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to everyone. I am finally able to sit and relax for a moment and thought I would take some time to update all of you on this past week.

Of course Christmas was today and Jason and I could not have been happier. We enjoyed the day with my parents and Olena in the morning then went to the family party at my uncles for the afternoon. We had a really good time watching Olena meet the family and interact with all of the kids. She had a blast and it did not take her long to figure out what Christmas is all about! By the end of the afternoon, she was tearing the paper off of the presents and all you could see was paper flying everywhere. She would look at each gift, stare for a moment, kiss it, then on to the next. It was very sweet!

Our parents have been great! Very supportive and they all adore Olena. My dad especially....he has spoiled her so much and she really loves him! I can see it in his eyes that he is so in love with this little girl! She is adapting very well and it amazes me and Jason every day. Believe me we have had a few bad days, many sleepiness nights, and many tears of frustration, but overall she is handling herself very well. It would shock you to see her today...you can see the change in her eyes - she is truly happy! A happy, healthy and beautiful 2 year old. She still loves to eat and is doing very well adjusting to the food. She eats yogurt, fruit, oatmeal, rice cereal, potatoes, and some baby food. She is speaking a lot more too, especially in Russian. We are starting to understand what she is really saying. And she loves to sing. She often sings one of the songs that she sang in the orphange ...it is so cute! The past couple of days she has woken up and Jason and I would lay in our bed and listen to her on the monitor. All we could do is sit there and laugh as she babbles and sings to herself. That is definately the best alarm to wake up too. She also understands us very well - as for english words, she is now saying Bubba (which is one of the dogs nick names), juice, light, when she thinks something is pretty she says "oh la la!" , bye bye, hello, and she tells me "cuckca" when she has a dirty diaper! We look at her everyday and still cannot believe how beautiful she is and how perfect she is for this family.

She stills absolutely loves the dogs and they are starting to get use to her. She runs back and forth through the house yelling trying to get them to chase her! and the crazy girl loves when they knock her down and lick her face. She is very brave and very curious.

Home Sweet Home!

2006-12-19T18:25:00.000-08:00

Yes we arrived safely! We are here back in the good ole USA and boy is it great!

To bring you up to date, we left Mykoliv on Tuesday night and headed for Kiev by car. Leaving the orphange was extremly hard for us, but we took our time and really charished the moment. Olena did great and was very brave.

Once in Kiev she fell right into routine and "adjusted" quite well. We were in Kiev until Sunday morning, and flew out at noon. I will not terrify you with the details but lets just say I would have rather been going through labor pains for 12 hours. She was nasty....no sleep and she would not eat. I am surprised that the other passengers did not purposely have the plane crash just to put us all out of our misery. We landed in Detroit at 6pm Sunday night (1am Monday in Ukraine) and walked through the doors to a were warm homecoming. We had family there, friends, they had signs. It was amazing...Jason and I lost it and just starting bawling. It felt so good to be home. That night when I slipped under the covers and laid my head to sleep I truly felt like I was in heaven. Everything was finally perfect! My daughter was in her bed fast asleep, we were home, we had our family, and boy did that bed feel great! I have a new found appreciation for my life and those who share it with me. We have experienced a mircle and it has really changed our outlook on life.

As for the past few days, I honestly can say it couldn't get any better. Olena has been very good an is adjusting wonderfully. We have set right back into our routine and schedule. She is discovering new things every second and is so amazed. She absolutely loves all of the animals. (3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 huge fish tanks and a bird) She was not scared for one minute. And keep in mind she is only as tall as our smallest dog! She squeezes them, trys to ride them like a horse, steals thier food right out of their mouths, pulls and pinches their cheeks, and bites them!! Lets say, I don't feel that they share the same fondness of her, but I have a feeling in the future they will all be great friends!

I will post again after the holidays and keep you guys posted with her progress I will also get some recent photos. FYI : She will be 2 on January 2oth, upon arriving home she weighs 19.5 lbs, she is 28 inches tall, and wears a size 12 months! Lets see how quick this peanut grows!

Farwell Mykoliv.....

2006-12-09T08:51:00.001-08:00

This will most likely be my last post until returning home so I will do my best to make it count. It has been a very tough few days for us emotionally. It has occurred to us that in 3 days we will be leaving this place and taking our daughter from the only life and family that she has ever known. This has been one amazing journey and it will be hard holding back my tears while writing this.

Though we have been extremely homesick and miss the true pleasures of home, Ukraine has been good to us. We have emerged ourselves into the culture, shown our appreciation, and have been respectful to each and every person we have met. For those of you who will soon travel, do not expect to come here and see the streets filled with smiling faces, the cars will run you over and do not give way to pedestrians, strangers do not hold the door for you, and you will be pushed out of the way on several occasions....but, make one friend ~ and you will see what Ukraine is really about! Watch the caregivers love the children, watch the mommas and poppas walk down the street holding their childs hand, watch the man and lady kiss while waiting for the bus....this is Ukraine. They are kind, giving, and very warm, and simple. Jason and I will forever hold a special place in our hearts for this country and it's people - especially the children.

Yesterday's visit at the orphange was a very special one for us. We were finally struck by the reality of all of this and what was going to happen in only a few days. The caregivers took us to see a play that was put on by some of the older children. There we were...all of the mommas, pappas and thier new sons and daughters. We were all smiling while watching the children dance and sing to the piano, while the "live" snowman told a story that made the children giggle with delight...at that moment I looked up and seen about 30 of the most beautiful children I have ever seen and realized that not one of them has a family! a real family! No moms - no dads! they were all orphans, yet every single one of them were beaming with happiness. The tears just started pouring from my eyes. Why do these angels have to live here? Don't get me wrong, this orphange is spectacular and so is every person who works here, but this is no place for a child to be raised. These children deserve so much more than this. What will happen to Katia - who is so unbelievably clever? or Galia who has this spark of energy and love? and what about Vanya the big brother of the group? or Victoria who is gentle and kind? Will all of these gifts from God one day find a family and flurish into beautiful adults? or will they fade away over the years while waiting in the system? You can see the potential in each and every one of these children. And they have a great spirit and love for life! You can see it in their eyes and you feel it in their hugs. Over the past 4 weeks all 16 of these children have touched me in some way and I cannot even put into words how hard itis going to be leaving them behind not knowing thier fate! A day will not pass that I will not think about them. I will dream about what they can become, I will fear what they may not be given, and I will hope and pray that they will all get the same opportunities as Olena!

As many of you know, I was not a person of faith. In fact I did not belive in much of anything especially God. Through a very special friend who was brought into my life about 6 months ago, my eyes were opened for the first time and I was able to see that I was truly blessed in many ways. All I had to do was open my eyes and believe. Since being here...God has touched me for the second time by letting me share this brief moment of my life with these remarkable children - and has brought Olena into our arms. I will forever be grateful and I will always remember this miracle! Jason and I have grown as a couple, shared tears of joy as well as many tears of saddness. We have grown as individuals as well and have learned that there is so much more to life than we ever thought. We will forever be greatful for our families and our friends and will remember all of those who are so less fortunate than us, and we will pray for them.

Over the next few days we will enjoy our last days with the groupa, share lots of hugs and laughs, then Tuesday is the magic day. We will be busy from sunrise to sunset finalizing paperwork, taking Olena from the orphange and setting sail for Kiev. We have decided to try and go to Kiev by car if the price is reasonable because the train takes too long and I feel Olena will do better with driving. We will arrive in Kiev early Wednesday morning and we will start to complete the final steps before returning home. We will leave Ukraine at noon on Sunday and will arrive on US soil in Detroit on Sunday the 17th around 7pm. It will be a joyous yet sad occassion. We will miss many things we have grown to love so much here in Ukraine, but we know we must move forward and hope for the best...and maybe hope that we can some day have the courage to return and maybe bring home a brother or sister for Olena. Jason and I cannot thank you all enough for the kind words you have shared while we have been here. We have had many days when your posts have made us smile and even occassionally cry. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Our journey is almost complete and a new chapter in our life will begin! We hope all of you have enjoyed it as much as we have! and we wish those of you who will adopt soon - the best of luck. Thank you !
Love always, Jason, Christina and Olena Warchol! God Bless!