We had 2 great visits today. This morning we went to the orphanage and 1st we went to Luke's room then we went to get Micah. Micah was sitting in the floor with all the other children watching cartoons. He got dressed and we went out to play. I guess you can tell by now they only have about 2 sets of clothes. They won't have to worry about that when we get home. Meme is already loading them up.
We played with water guns and on the slide. We also gave both of them beach balls so they love kicking those around. We found out that Luke loves yogurt. He started saying "num num". After he ate all of his he kept licking the cup. Micah liked it but not as much as bananas.
James had to get on to Micah several times today. He likes to stick his tongue out when he gets in trouble and thinks it's funny. Boy, we have our work cut out for us but I wouldn't change a thing.
Kyle- Aunt Penny is sitting here listening to the chicken dance song while I'm typing. There are a lot of kids staying here. It is like a summer camp. Uncle James says hello to "His Friend".
We brought several books and point to the pictures and they repeat it in English. James read a race car book and Micah repeated every word. Luke thought it was funny.
We are getting better communicating with them. James has learned when they want on his shoulders. Luke fell and opened up a boo boo that was already on his knee. He started crying and let us pick him up and hold him. We cleaned it off and put some antibiotic cream on it. At first he was scared but we blew on it and he got better.
There are dogs everywhere in this city. The ones at the orphanage get chicken bones to eat. James and I kept worrying they would choke but they didn't.
The food here at the hotel is different but edible. We have had some very good meals and some not so good. This morning we had chicken, noodles, tomatoes, fresh bread and peaches for breakfast. For lunch we had beet,corn and cheese salad (surprisingly good), James thought the beets taste like dirt. We also had a cabbage roll with pork (we think)in the middle and mash potatoes designed like a seashell. The best was the watermelon. Tonight I told James how much I was craving salsa. We got to dinner and guess what, we had a plate with onions, tomatoes and peppers with a sweet taste. It was very good. We had egg custard (unsweetened)and 2 meatballs (maybe sausage?) on a plate of some kind of oats. I thought it may be some kind of wheat. We also had rolls and cookies. To drink they give us hot tea and juice that taste like plums.
I guess you can say the biggest things we have had to overcome are the smells. When you turn on the water you smell some kind of gas. Cab rides you smell the fumes from the thousands of cars trying to all get in the same lane. The noise everywhere is pretty loud. I guess because their independence day is Monday so the cities are already celebrating with loud music and fire works. It interesting until about 11pm when you are trying to go to sleep. James is hoping that it's fireworks we are hearing and not Russia. There is only so much you can do with a Swiss army knife. Ha ha!
Thanks again for all your comments.
Mom and Betty- The first thing we want when we get home is a diet Mt Dew and a Diet Dr Pepper with lots of ice.
We sure do miss everyone and I think Lee Greenwood said it best "I'm Proud to be an American!!!".
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Friday, August 22nd
Hello everyone, we have had a wonderful day with our 2 boys. We went to visit this morning and they played with their water guns again. They played on the slide and chased each other. As you can see, Papa got into the water battle also.
After our morning visit we went back to our motel and checked out. We are staying at a health resort. They have mineral waters to help people with skin problems. I know it sounds like we are in luxury but remember this is Ukraine not America. We do have a beautiful view as you can see in the below picture. We know we will stay here for the next 2 weeks. Not sure after that.
Our facilitator Natalia went home for the weekend so we went to the orphanage this afternoon just the 2 of us. We did not take the water guns and the boys were a little disappointed but they got so dirty this morning we felt we needed to only take them once a day. We did fine communicating. We have showed them picture books and tell them the word in English and they repeat it.
Micah repeats everything we say. I think they will pick up on English pretty quick.
Micah is also very strong willed. Today he kicked Luke in the back when they were playing on the slide. We had to get on to him and comfort Luke. Boys will be boys no matter where you are.
As you can see in the picture they love juice. We brought them to sippy cups and they liked drinking out of those. Micah loves bananas and Luke loves apples. You should see Micah eat. He grabs the banana and tries to shove the whole thing in his mouth (peel and all) They also like cheese crackers.
We are very tired tonight and missing our bed but God has been so faithful that we cannot complain. Thanks to everyone who has left comments. We need your words of encouragement.
Pastor, James is missing you too. Hopefully we will only be here about 3 more weeks if everything goes well.
Ginger- Thanks for taking care of my baby Eli.
Aultman's we appreciate your prayers!!
Both our Mom's we Love you!!! Your phone calls keep us going!!
Chris Hayes,Chris Gann, B&B, Faith Worship and Medassist- James and I appreciate your support and miss you all!
After our morning visit we went back to our motel and checked out. We are staying at a health resort. They have mineral waters to help people with skin problems. I know it sounds like we are in luxury but remember this is Ukraine not America. We do have a beautiful view as you can see in the below picture. We know we will stay here for the next 2 weeks. Not sure after that.
Our facilitator Natalia went home for the weekend so we went to the orphanage this afternoon just the 2 of us. We did not take the water guns and the boys were a little disappointed but they got so dirty this morning we felt we needed to only take them once a day. We did fine communicating. We have showed them picture books and tell them the word in English and they repeat it.
Micah repeats everything we say. I think they will pick up on English pretty quick.
Micah is also very strong willed. Today he kicked Luke in the back when they were playing on the slide. We had to get on to him and comfort Luke. Boys will be boys no matter where you are.
As you can see in the picture they love juice. We brought them to sippy cups and they liked drinking out of those. Micah loves bananas and Luke loves apples. You should see Micah eat. He grabs the banana and tries to shove the whole thing in his mouth (peel and all) They also like cheese crackers.
We are very tired tonight and missing our bed but God has been so faithful that we cannot complain. Thanks to everyone who has left comments. We need your words of encouragement.
Pastor, James is missing you too. Hopefully we will only be here about 3 more weeks if everything goes well.
Ginger- Thanks for taking care of my baby Eli.
Aultman's we appreciate your prayers!!
Both our Mom's we Love you!!! Your phone calls keep us going!!
Chris Hayes,Chris Gann, B&B, Faith Worship and Medassist- James and I appreciate your support and miss you all!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Our boys like water guns
We did not get to go to the orphanage this morning because we were looking for a place to live. We are staying in a hotel again tonight and then tomorrow we will go to a place that is like a health resort and they serve 3 meals a day.
We went to a pizza place for lunch and it was absolutely the best pizza we have ever ate. We walked back to our motel about 2 miles so we are getting plenty of exercise. We also went to the market and purchased water guns for the boys.
Our visit at the orphanage was very good today. When we got there the asst. director said that Luke cried this morning because we did not come visit. That made me very happy. When he came in the room he climbed right up in James lap and had his beach ball that we brought to him yesterday. Micah came in and was very excited to see James. Luke sat in my lap and then we all went outside to play.
We got out the water guns and their eyes lit up. They had a blast squirting each other and squirting Papa. One of the water guns was broke so we had to go buy another one tonight. Micah is full of energy and always being silly. He still talks a lot of baby talk but we feel he will grow out of this the more he learns English.
We traced their feet on paper so we can go buy shoes and I will take a measuring tape tomorrow to measure them. They giggled when we were tracing their feet.
Natalia had to get on to Micah because he was misbehaving and he got very sad. By the time we got inside to say goodbye he was feeling a little better. He let us kiss his cheek and waved goodbye.
We took Luke upstairs and his caretaker spoke a little English and she told him to say goodbye. After we said it a couple of times he said goodbye in English. He showed us where his locker is and put up his ball and changed his shoes.
We will go back in the morning at 9am and then come back to check out and go to our new home. I finally figured out how to post pictures. There are pictures of the boys. The building is the SDA and the picture of the bed is our motel room. Yes, that is a rug for a bedspread. Jana it is Bila Tserkva inside of Kiev.
The director of the orphanage is on vacation so when she returns on Tuesday we will get the paperwork to submit for a court date. Until tomorrow, God Bless!
We went to a pizza place for lunch and it was absolutely the best pizza we have ever ate. We walked back to our motel about 2 miles so we are getting plenty of exercise. We also went to the market and purchased water guns for the boys.
Our visit at the orphanage was very good today. When we got there the asst. director said that Luke cried this morning because we did not come visit. That made me very happy. When he came in the room he climbed right up in James lap and had his beach ball that we brought to him yesterday. Micah came in and was very excited to see James. Luke sat in my lap and then we all went outside to play.
We got out the water guns and their eyes lit up. They had a blast squirting each other and squirting Papa. One of the water guns was broke so we had to go buy another one tonight. Micah is full of energy and always being silly. He still talks a lot of baby talk but we feel he will grow out of this the more he learns English.
We traced their feet on paper so we can go buy shoes and I will take a measuring tape tomorrow to measure them. They giggled when we were tracing their feet.
Natalia had to get on to Micah because he was misbehaving and he got very sad. By the time we got inside to say goodbye he was feeling a little better. He let us kiss his cheek and waved goodbye.
We took Luke upstairs and his caretaker spoke a little English and she told him to say goodbye. After we said it a couple of times he said goodbye in English. He showed us where his locker is and put up his ball and changed his shoes.
We will go back in the morning at 9am and then come back to check out and go to our new home. I finally figured out how to post pictures. There are pictures of the boys. The building is the SDA and the picture of the bed is our motel room. Yes, that is a rug for a bedspread. Jana it is Bila Tserkva inside of Kiev.
The director of the orphanage is on vacation so when she returns on Tuesday we will get the paperwork to submit for a court date. Until tomorrow, God Bless!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Our First Meeting
Great news, we met our 2 boys today!
We drove to the city that was about 1 hour away from Kiev. We have a facilitator Natalia. She is very sweet and her English is very good. We went to the inspectors office and got a letter of invitation to the orphanage. We then drove to the orphanage and it is very nice and clean. They are also doing renovations.
We went to the directors office and she gave us information on our 2 boys. We asked some questions and then they called for the boys to come in to her office. They are Olek and Vuvaa. Olek will be named Luke and Vuvaa will be named Micah. They were both very timid and shy. We gave them 2 little cars and they both said "thank you".
Micah let me pick him up and put him in my lap. Luke was very shy. We showed they pictures of their babushka's (grandmother's)We also showed pictures of our entire family including our dogs Eli and Jags. Luke said he likes suboka which means dogs.
We showed them picture of our house and the backyard. We then went outside to play. Micah held my hand and let me help him on the slide. Luke was still very shy and clung to Natalia. We had to leave and Micah kept staring and waving as we left.
Luke said he wanted us to come back and play and he wanted a water gun.
We went back for our 2nd visit at 4:30 and stopped at a toy store on the way to look for a water gun but all they had was an uzi so we did not get it. We already had a beach ball so Natalia said she would explain to them.
When we arrived they brought Luke in first. He saw the beach ball and started smiling. James and I got in the floor and we started paying ball. Luke smiled at us for the 1st time.
Micah came in and saw the beach ball and got very excited so we all went outside to play. Luke is very calm and loves to play ball. He is going to be a great ball player. Micah got so excited he started squealing. They love to have their pictures made so we were able to get several pictures. I'm have trouble figuring out how to download them to my blog so if someone can offer advice I would appreciate it. Micah called us Mama and Papa and we got him to say his name. Luke doesn't like his name yet because it sounds like something else in Russian. He'll get used to it in time.
Luke really warmed up to us this afternoon and we can't wait to go back in the morning.
Go to the bottom of the blog and you can see the new Holcombe family. Aren't they adorable!! Thanks again for your prayers.
We drove to the city that was about 1 hour away from Kiev. We have a facilitator Natalia. She is very sweet and her English is very good. We went to the inspectors office and got a letter of invitation to the orphanage. We then drove to the orphanage and it is very nice and clean. They are also doing renovations.
We went to the directors office and she gave us information on our 2 boys. We asked some questions and then they called for the boys to come in to her office. They are Olek and Vuvaa. Olek will be named Luke and Vuvaa will be named Micah. They were both very timid and shy. We gave them 2 little cars and they both said "thank you".
Micah let me pick him up and put him in my lap. Luke was very shy. We showed they pictures of their babushka's (grandmother's)We also showed pictures of our entire family including our dogs Eli and Jags. Luke said he likes suboka which means dogs.
We showed them picture of our house and the backyard. We then went outside to play. Micah held my hand and let me help him on the slide. Luke was still very shy and clung to Natalia. We had to leave and Micah kept staring and waving as we left.
Luke said he wanted us to come back and play and he wanted a water gun.
We went back for our 2nd visit at 4:30 and stopped at a toy store on the way to look for a water gun but all they had was an uzi so we did not get it. We already had a beach ball so Natalia said she would explain to them.
When we arrived they brought Luke in first. He saw the beach ball and started smiling. James and I got in the floor and we started paying ball. Luke smiled at us for the 1st time.
Micah came in and saw the beach ball and got very excited so we all went outside to play. Luke is very calm and loves to play ball. He is going to be a great ball player. Micah got so excited he started squealing. They love to have their pictures made so we were able to get several pictures. I'm have trouble figuring out how to download them to my blog so if someone can offer advice I would appreciate it. Micah called us Mama and Papa and we got him to say his name. Luke doesn't like his name yet because it sounds like something else in Russian. He'll get used to it in time.
Luke really warmed up to us this afternoon and we can't wait to go back in the morning.
Go to the bottom of the blog and you can see the new Holcombe family. Aren't they adorable!! Thanks again for your prayers.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We Can finally communicate and we are here
Hello Everyone,
We finally have access to the internet. We arrived safely in Kiev on Saturday evening. Our flight was great and Praise God our luggage made it with us.
Ben (one of our facilitators) picked us up at the airport and we went straight to McDonald's. It doesn't taste the same as home but it was still good. We are staying in a very nice apartment. The weather is great! We have no air conditioning but have not needed it. We just open the windows and let the air flow.
We have read a lot about the cab rides here but until you actually experience it you won't believe it. Mom they drive crazier than you and Betty put together!! They park and drive on sidewalks and they make a 2 lane road into a 4 lane. I just closed my eyes, took a deep breath and prayed A Lot
We rode out to Ben's house and dhad a relaxing afternoon on Sunday. Ben cooked for us and it was great. We spent time with the McMullins and their son. We also went to church with Ben that night and we really enjoyed it. Everyone was so nice.
The most wonderful news is that we had our appointment on Monday. Our appointment was at 12:00 pm. We walked in a little before 12 and sat down in the office. Sasha (our other facilitator) made introductions. Before we knew what was happening the director of the SDA made it clear she did not have an hour to spend with us. She said she had a referral that was put on her desk that morning. She called the director at the orphange and got some information on the boys. Yes, that's right I said boys. We are adopting 2 precious boys ages 4 and 5. They are brothers and are located in an orphanage 1 hour from Kiev. They state that they are both healthy. We were in the car and driving back to our appointment by 12:02. Isn't God amazing. We both had stood outside when we got there and prayed for the Holy Spirit to walk in before us and prepare the way and He did just that.
We leave tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to go visit them. We will have a facilitator that will drive us there and she will stay with us.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I cannot describe the joy we feel and how God has orchestrated this entire thing. He is so good to us.
We have already picked out the boys names. The oldest will be James Luke and we will call him Luke. The youngest will be Micah Paul and we will call him Micah. We are so excited. Thank you to all those who have prayed for us and who helped get us here.
Tonight we went on another cab ride (oh me)We met Ben, Tonya, Sonya (their daughter), and the McMullins at TGIFridays. We had a great dinner. Monday is a holiday here so they were lining up for the military parade. There were tanks and military bands everywhere. I am attempting to download pictures of the tanks. We will download pictures of the boys as soon as we can.
We love all of you and please continue to pray for us.
We finally have access to the internet. We arrived safely in Kiev on Saturday evening. Our flight was great and Praise God our luggage made it with us.
Ben (one of our facilitators) picked us up at the airport and we went straight to McDonald's. It doesn't taste the same as home but it was still good. We are staying in a very nice apartment. The weather is great! We have no air conditioning but have not needed it. We just open the windows and let the air flow.
We have read a lot about the cab rides here but until you actually experience it you won't believe it. Mom they drive crazier than you and Betty put together!! They park and drive on sidewalks and they make a 2 lane road into a 4 lane. I just closed my eyes, took a deep breath and prayed A Lot
We rode out to Ben's house and dhad a relaxing afternoon on Sunday. Ben cooked for us and it was great. We spent time with the McMullins and their son. We also went to church with Ben that night and we really enjoyed it. Everyone was so nice.
The most wonderful news is that we had our appointment on Monday. Our appointment was at 12:00 pm. We walked in a little before 12 and sat down in the office. Sasha (our other facilitator) made introductions. Before we knew what was happening the director of the SDA made it clear she did not have an hour to spend with us. She said she had a referral that was put on her desk that morning. She called the director at the orphange and got some information on the boys. Yes, that's right I said boys. We are adopting 2 precious boys ages 4 and 5. They are brothers and are located in an orphanage 1 hour from Kiev. They state that they are both healthy. We were in the car and driving back to our appointment by 12:02. Isn't God amazing. We both had stood outside when we got there and prayed for the Holy Spirit to walk in before us and prepare the way and He did just that.
We leave tomorrow morning (Wednesday) to go visit them. We will have a facilitator that will drive us there and she will stay with us.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I cannot describe the joy we feel and how God has orchestrated this entire thing. He is so good to us.
We have already picked out the boys names. The oldest will be James Luke and we will call him Luke. The youngest will be Micah Paul and we will call him Micah. We are so excited. Thank you to all those who have prayed for us and who helped get us here.
Tonight we went on another cab ride (oh me)We met Ben, Tonya, Sonya (their daughter), and the McMullins at TGIFridays. We had a great dinner. Monday is a holiday here so they were lining up for the military parade. There were tanks and military bands everywhere. I am attempting to download pictures of the tanks. We will download pictures of the boys as soon as we can.
We love all of you and please continue to pray for us.
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