The Fritz Farm

2011-11-30T18:23:00.000-06:00

We Need Your Help to Protect the Rights of Children with Disabilities Around the World

Dear DRI Supporters,

Several weeks ago, I visited a baby house in Eastern Europe. It houses about 130 infants and small children, a third of whom are children with disabilities. Most babies are eventually returned to their birth parents, put into foster care or are adopted. But not the babies with disabilities. They have nowhere to go. Among children with disabilities, almost 30% died last year.

I walked with trepidation into each dark room. In the middle of the day, not a sound. Not one child crying. They learn quickly that no one comes. One room after another, children with disabilities lay dying. Hydrocephalus and spina bifida are left untreated, despite the fact that the country has the means to care for these conditions. I was told that doctors will not perform surgery on children with disabilities who "have no future." And many die from lack of touch and love, despite adequate food and heat.

One six month old baby with hydrocephalus still haunts my dreams. The condition (caused by a buildup of spinal fluid in the head) can easily be corrected by the insertion of a shunt. But instead, this little boy had a "burst" -his head blew a hole from the pressure. He lay in his crib dying an agonizing death.

6 month old boy whose head recently burst due to untreated hydrocephalus. Doctors expect the boy to die "anytime."

Millions of babies and children around the world are suffering the same fate-left to grow up in institutions without the hope of having a family. Many are denied medical care and left to die. We need to stop this. Segregation from society - or leaving children to die - is a fundamental violation of international human rights law and must not be tolerated in any society. That is why DRI is working towards the end of the institutionalization of children with disabilities worldwide.

This can change: doctors and societies need to understand the value and human rights of every human being's life; governments need to support families to keep their children with disabilities at home by providing financial support, inclusive education and respite care; and international donors, including the US government and the European Union, need to stop funding segregated services and more institutions to shut away children with disabilities. Children with disabilities have the right to grow up with a family and live as part of society - just like other children.

It's that simple.

DRI is training disability activists, educating international donors, getting the word out to the media, and holding governments accountable for human rights abuses worldwide. Please click here to make a contribution to support our work. We need your help. We really do.

Warmest regards and much love.

Laurie Ahern,

President
www.disabilityrightsintl.org

Nikon D3100 Digital SLR Camera Kit GIVEAWAY!!!

2011-11-05T21:21:00.002-05:00

Want a chance of winning a Nikon D3100? Well then this is the place to go to enter to win one. The best part is you will also be helping bring a sweet little 7 year old boy home to his forever family!!! A little boy who sits in a not so nice place waiting. He has waited 7 years! Please check out this fundraiser and give so that a little boy can be home for Christmas with his forever family. It really is a win win for everyone!

A Family Of 15!

2011-11-04T10:58:00.007-05:00

And that is not counting our four legged kids!! Now who would have thought adding 2 teenagers to a house that already had 2 teenagers living in it would be anything but pure bliss????? I would have to say without a doubt that this has been the most challenging adoption adjustment period for all of us. As if adding a 16 year old girl who has lived in an orphanage for the past 9 years isn't enough for one to handle, we then bring along her 14 year brother who has lived in an orphanage since he was 5. It's been interesting to say the least.
It's the little things that I wasn't prepared for. The way neither of them want to wear warm cloths because they don't like them. I'm sure it's because they are not used to them coming from Colombia South America where it is summer all year long!!! They wont eat because they don't like the food. While in Colombia I told them that food was going to be a big adjustment for them because it really is different. Oh, just try bringing a 14 year old boy shopping for some cloths. I couldn't figure it out until I asked him if he EVER got to pick out cloths before?? Of course he hadnt, he lived in an orphanage where they just give you the cloths! I was just used to buying our newly adopted kids their cloths and putting food on the table and they ate it. Then to top it off I have Kaylee asking why she didnt just get to go pick out whatever she wanted to wear when she first came here! Really Kaylee??? You were 11! They are 14 and 16. Can't really dress them in Garanimals now can I! Oh, and by the way my dear Kaylee, I did bring you shopping and let YOU pick out what you liked!!! Ah, teenagers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Language, food, cloths, self esteem, rules, school, family, all of it is so much different when adopting an older child.
Other than all that I think things are going pretty well. If getting on the wrong bus after school, boys asking for phone numbers, thinking you don't have to do chores now that you have a mom, thinking one can play video games for hours on end and is the "American" thing to do, getting talked to by the assistant principle for not eating lunch and then when he is trying to explain to you why food is important you ignore him and he flips out, run in the bathroom crying because tata or mom try to explain rules, and sleeping on top of you covers so you don't have to make your bed in the morning are all considered things going well, then yes, things are going very well!!!!
All in all, they are home and this is where they want to be and where we want them to be. They are good kids and family is such a foreign thing to them. So sad. I just hope and pray that in the short time we have to raise them it will be enough. That they will "get" what a family is. That they will feel what a family is. That they will forever know that this family, their family, our family will be here for them always.

Sometimes You Have To Let Go and Let God

2011-09-18T20:30:00.009-05:00

Okay, I admit it. I like to be in complete control of my life. That is probably why I don't like to fly, actually HATE to fly. I can't stand driving with anyone. Kind of a perfectionist. Worry about anything and everything and I am not a optimist. Thank God that Ken on is extremely optimistic, very laid back and is a takes it as it comes kind of guy.
The last month has been a learning lesson for me. A lesson from God. A lesson I'm having a hard time learning. It started with my Kurbis losing her eye sight. Completely blind with a condition called SARDS.

She used to chase squirrels and watch them jump from tree to tree. Horse around with my other 2 four legged kids and she loved to watch TV! So to say I was feeling bad and sorry for her is an understatement. I had no control over it. I couldn't fix it for her and it made me feel horrible that I couldn't.
Then after getting a 2nd opinion for Denis and planning his heart surgery we postponed our trip to South America to pick up our kids.

We were supposed to leave the end of July. We had a date. But I had no control. Denis needed his surgery after one more heart scan and then a heart cath. It was a no brainer, but still I had to call 2 kids in South America and tell them they had to wait just a little bit longer.
About three weeks ago I called my dad to see how things were. My dad is EVERYTHING to me. And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. he has been there for me when no one else has! I love, love, LOVE him. He told me he wasn't feeling well and for the next 2 weeks that was the answer he gave me when I asked. I went up there one weekend with Kaylee and Roc to clean, do laundry and try to get him to eat or drink. Why not go to the doctor you ask? Because he does not like doctors. I know, I know, who does. But he seriously does not like them. In all my years I never saw him go to a doctor. When he went to the dentist he never had Novocain for any work he was having done. Root canals, teeth pulled, cavities, nothing. Once he was side swiped by another car. He was brought to the hospital and left, with broken ribs and bruised all over. So Ken and Roc went up there last weekend making a stop at the hospital first. Ken asked what could be wrong by giving them the symptoms. They helped answer some questions and said he really should come in but if he was of sound mind there was nothing we could do. THREE hours is what it took Ken and Roxana to convince him to go in. He had not eaten or drank for 2 weeks. He was dehydrated, blood sugar was high which was making the kidneys work WAY to hard! UTI, High blood pressure and not a good looking gallbladder. After 5 days in the hospital Ken drove him back to our house so I could make sure he takes his medication. And NO, he does not make a good patient. Once again, no control. I didn't want my dad to be going through this and would change places with him in a second!!!
We have our appointment in South America next week so what better way to teach me that I have NO control than to have Denis go in for his heart cath and have problems with it. His first heart cath was cancelled and rescheduled for the following week. We brought him in and brought him home the same night. The next day he was feeling great. It was the next day after that though that things went down hill. He stopped eating and drinking, could not keep his eyes open and was running a small temp. Brought him in on Wednesday and Thursday the decision was made to do his heart surgery that day.

I'm actually glad it happened this way so I wouldn't have been worrying the weeks prior to him having to go in. He is doing wonderful! He is pink, not blue any longer! His eyes are bright white and he is warm to the touch. He always was cold and out of breath. He amazes me every time I look at him! He takes it all with no worry! A lesson I am still learning.
Kurbis is learning to live without seeing with help from my other 4 legged kids and all of us. Dad has a follow up doctor appointment next week. Denis may need a pacemaker. We will know more later in the week but he can live a long, long life with one. In fact his surgeon has one! And through all this I am learning to Let Go and Let GOD! If you think of us through out your day, please send a prayer up to the Big Guy!
Thanks!

Long Overdue

2011-08-14T20:46:00.005-05:00

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Every time I try to get a update of the kids post in, something comes up!!
We were supposed to be in Colombia on July 26. I think I emailed some of you that it was June 26 but that just goes to show you how busy we have been, I cant even get date right any longer!!! Anyway, it was July 26 but Denis needs his surgery done so we postponed getting the kids until September 26. That was not a phone call I wanted to make telling Ingrid we would be a little longer! She has already waited over 2 years for us and I was not sure how I was going to tell her or how she was going to take it. I should have known better! She told us that yes, she was upset but that her "brother" needed to have his surgery so that he could start growing and be healthy. I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of her! Her only request is that we call her more. We already call once a week but we can certainly call more to let her know that we are for sure coming for her and her brother!
We brought Inna in for her first doctor appointment and after the first meeting the doctors seem to think she has Spina Bifida. Hmmm....I think a Ms. Leah told me thats what it sounded like!!! Obviously lots more doctor appointments are set up along with therapy for getting some of that muscle back in the lower part of her body. Between Denis and Inna I think I should maybe just rent a room at the hospital!! LOL!!
Nothing is going to stop that girl though, and I mean NOTHING! I cannot believe how she keeps right up with her siblings! Be it running up and down the stairs or playing outside on the trampoline or at the park on the jungle gym! I tell ya, the girl has got spunk!! Her favorite thing still are the animals! She love, love, LOVES them! She has been home 6 weeks and she knows all of our names, and when I say all I mean the animals too of course!!! Learning her ABC's and counting. Knows how to spell her name and say all body parts like nose, ear, arm, leg....you get it. She is still getting used to some of the foods and hates milk. She will drink it though when she is trying to wash down something she doesnt like to eat!! hahahaha! She loves tacos, any kind of pasta, chicken, baked beans fresh fruit and ice cream. Not big on any kind of beef or pork except hot dogs and really doesnt like bread. So all in all not bad! Her favorite thing to say for the last two weeks have been "come on mom"?!?! You know, can I have some more ice cream mom? No, thats enough. Come On Mom! Can I lay on the floor for another hour with the dogs instead of going to bed? No, time for bed. Come On Mom! Do I really have to go to the bathroom instead of playing? Yes Inna, go potty. Come On Mom! Silly girl! Oh how I love her!! She seems to be bonding with us but the U of M adoption clinic thinks it is a good idea that she not start school right away in fear she may bond with the teachers. Because she has spent so much time in the orphanage we thought we would keep her home a few more months before heading off to school all day. We are teaching her what she needs to learn and it also gives us more time to show her that this is home and we are her family forever! it may be a little hard for her to understand why all the other kids are heading out the door with backpacks and not her, but she will eventually get it. Here are some pictures of her with Jerlin who is 7 and Dani who is a small 5 year old. You can see how tiny Inna is at 9!! She will get there though. With the love of a family to help her along the way there will be no stopping her!!!

One Year

2011-07-19T16:43:00.017-05:00

It has been busy around here the last couple of months. I went back to work so not a lot of time for blogging. But this post is our "home one year" post so I wanted to share how far the kids have grown and learned in a year. It has gone by fast and sometimes we think we haven't taught them enough but after looking at the before and after photos we can't get over just how far they have come.
Joshy - Still not potty trained but working on it. He really could care less unfortunately but that is how Josh is. He would rather be playing army with the boys or jumping on the trampoline, swinging, listen to music, playing the keyboard, watching sponge bob or wipeout, chewing on ANYTHING or eating! You get it. He really has no time for trying to learn to go potty!!! UGH!!! The boy has no fear and LOVES causing trouble for his teachers at school. Josh and Artem are in the same class room and Josh is BY FAR the instigator!! Artem follows Josh's lead in whatever he is up to. Not always a good thing either! He is healthy and had all his dental work done so he has a bunch of silver(stainless steel)in his mouth! The kids say he should be on a James Bond movie. But the most important thing is he is Happy! When he first saw Inna come through the door the two were inseparable! They remembered each other and it was obvious. They were in the same group at the baby house and I knew they played together all the time there but wasn't sure if they would remember. We were happy to see that they did and how well they play together today.

Dani - Dani is the boss of all the kids......so she thinks! hahaha! She eats very slow unless she LOVES the food, which is far and few between. She starts school this fall and that should be interesting. She absolutly LOVES Charley!!! I brought her and some of the other kids up to grandpas and after a day of being there I asked her if she wanted to call home and talk to the other kids. She did and talked with them and then Charley got on the phone. She started to talk to him and then started crying and telling him how much she missed him and if he missed her. Very sweet to see the bond between them. All we hear everyday is Charley this and Charley that, Charley, Charley, Charley! She is a very messy little girl and HATES keeping her room clean! In fact her favorite thing to do is change cloths 20 times a day and make a mess out of her room. She shares her room with Jerlin and Inna who are not all that happy with her fashion changes! More surgery for Dani is scheduled once we get home from South America. She wants her chin fixed up only because Charley pointed out to her that the doctors can and should fix it! I swear, if Charley told her she were 15 and was going into the 10th grade in the fall, she would believe it!! Now if we could just get Charles to start telling her some legitimate things we would be set!

Artem - What can I say about our Artem, the boy who I wasn't sure of. I LOVE him so much but honestly he is a stubborn one. He is almost potty trained and is very smart. He is just the little boy who HAS to have things HIS way in his OWN time! Frustrating! He is teaching ALL of us patience! He is very healthy which we are thankful for. He loves school and is a good boy there when he is away from Joshy!!! LOL!! He loves to dangle things and playing with Denis. He doesnt like to play army with the boys but has learned to love getting wet on the trampoline. He HATES brushing his teeth and drinking unless he comes in from a hot day of playing, then he comes in and drinks about four glasses of water. But he only drinks when he wants to drink and we are trying new and different ways of letting him know he needs to drink throughout the day. He is picky with food mostly because of the texture. But once we get it to where he will eat it look out! The boy will eat and eat and eat! He uses signs correctly unlike his brother Mr. Josh! I often wonder where Artem would be if we had not brought him home. How he would have survived. Josh is the one who if he is hungry will take Artems food and Artem just lets him. I would have thought it would have been the other way around when first meeting them. Artem is very laid back and knows he is home with his family. And for that I am SO SO happy!

Denis - The boy who started us even thinking of adopting a child with Down syndrome. I remember the day when I first saw his sweet face and talking with Ken about bringing him home. Then another family committed to him and I felt a hole in my heart. Then when he became available again I knew he was meant to be our son. If it were not for Denis, Josh and Artem would not be here. He has come so far in 1 year and I can NOT even think of where he would be today if he had not come home with us. Doctor after doctor have told us that we literally saved this little boys life. When you hear something like that it tends to go in one ear and out the other, at least for me it did. Then when I look at photos of him last year I think that maybe we really did save his life?! When we first met Denis he could not even hold his head up. He was always congested and I remember the caretakers telling us he hardly ever has a dirty diaper. It took us time when visiting him to get him to focus on us and things around him and that did not always work. I remember on a few visits how scared I was that he would never make it home. Today Denis LOVES to laugh in his crib around 10:30pm every night. This has been known to go on until the wee hours of the morning!! He is the happiest little boy I have ever met. Denis loves life! When we first started teaching Josh and Artem signs we never thought of showing Denis. Then one day when we were making supper Denis was signing "hungry"! After his first bowl of food he then signed "more"! Okay, the boy is a genius what else can I say!?!?!!!

Our lives have changed raising these kids and we wouldn't have it any other way. To be able to give them the love of a family and see the bond between all the kids is a feeling I cannot explain. How lucky are we???

IMPORTANT!

2011-07-05T12:07:00.002-05:00

How does one explain the emotions of leaving an orphan behind after returning home with your new son or daughter? It SUCKS! Their faces remain embedded in your thoughts constantly! You think about them, wonder what they are doing, what will become of them. Why you couldn't bring just one more home, or maybe even two. And if you did bring one or two home, what about the third or fourth. How do these children live out the rest of their lives? It goes on and on like that for me. I think to myself, what could I do once I get home that could change things for these kids, these motherless and fatherless kids. Kids who have nothing. Kids who are mentally or physically impaired. Once the kids leave the baby house, they live a life with no hope of a family to love them. These orphans live life that some of you cannot even imagine. I have seen it, other families have seen it.
When you live with these faces and questions running through your mind it almost becomes a mission for you to find a answer of how I, you, could help.
I am happy to say that I have found a answer. It is NOT the only answer but a GREAT start to my mission of finding a way to help the helpless.
Project TLC.
Project TLC is helping the children left behind. The children no one "picked". They have partnered with His Kids Too, an experienced, Christian charity recognized in the USA and Ukraine. When you donate to TLC it will be administered by His Kids Too! and are deductible as allowed by law. They occasionally work in concert with other Christian aid groups working in Crimea and are not officially connected to any other aid group or ministry.
It's easy. You can go here or here to learn more and GIVE! It doesn't have to be a lot, or it could be, but PLEASE give something! It is such a great cause.

Oh What A Day!

2011-07-01T08:29:00.008-05:00

At 2:00pm June 10 standing in a real court room with a real judge and real judges chairs we became the parents of Inna Jean Fritz. This was the first time that the room we had court in was a real live court room. It had very old benches and chairs and stands. It was really cool! The judge sat in the middle on the tallest chair and two jurors sat on each side of her in the same exact but shorter chairs. The court lasted about 1 hour and then 1/2 later we stood as the judge reentered the room with her decision. After the judge was done reading her decision, she put her papers in a pile and started talking to us. She said how happy she was that Inna had a family and how wonderful we were for taking Inna and helping her. She said that she wished there were more people in the world like us. Then she started to cry along with the two jurors and she said she loved us. WOW! The hardest but also best part for me to hear was when the director was talking. First what she said, that broke my heart, was how she tried to convince the SDA and our facilitator for us not to come visit Inna. When the SDA called the director to make sure that this was where Inna was transferred to, the director told the SDA that we will not want this child that she has to much wrong with her. That we should not even come see her because it will be a wasted trip. The child is not a child to be adopted. It was then explained to the director that we already met the child last year and that we wanted to come. After she heard that she welcomed us to come. But the BEST part came when the director said this in court........When they arrived and were sitting in the room waiting for Inna to come in, I thought why are they here if they have met the child already and know what she is like. Why would they come for such a child. Then Inna walked in, Nance fell to her knees to grab and hug and kiss Inna. Nance pulled out a photo album of their family and Inna remembered the family as she saw the book of family photos from last year. I could not believe she would remember and I had tears in my eyes at the love I saw Inna get. I just could not understand it but it did not matter that I could not understand it because I knew right then that Inna's family had found her.
Her heart had been changed! She saw that we didn't look at Inna as a child with a HOST of problems but only as our daughter! Inna cannot write so she was in the court room to be asked if she wanted us as her mama and papa. Da was her answer. They asked her how old she was and when was her birthday but that was pretty much all. Inna started getting squirrely which I don't blame her, it was getting long for us too! After court we went and had a celebratory drink with our facilitator and went over a few things that will happen on our trip back after the waiting period. The three of us came home on June 11 and Ken and Roc will return on June 19/20 to bring our girl home.
Once Ken and Roc get home from Ukraine, Ken and I will travel to Chicago to get our visas for Colombia. You have to get visas when adopting from Colombia and you have to get them in person now!!!! Ugh!!!!!! We are hoping to leave around the 11th of July to go get our kids from South America.
And now, FINALLY, after 1 year of not being able to post our daughters photo, here she is.......

INNA JEAN FRITZ

Inna in 2010

Inna 2011

Can You Imagine?

2011-06-30T11:34:00.002-05:00

I'm sure all you adopting families out there know the thrill of choosing a child and then having the photo of your child linked to you. Linked to your blog so you can write about all the highs and lows of the months of paper chasing and all the emotions you are going through. Asking for prayers and getting feedback on all you are living. Even though there are no guarantees that your child will be available once you get to the country he or she is in, you still have peace of mind that nobody from the website can also "pick" your child.
Now lets pretend you chose a child and that was all the further it went. No link to show you are trying to adopt this particular child. No blog to share the journey with. In fact the child that you chose is still being advocated for to have a family come for them. Still on the list of available children that need a home.
Two things can happen with this scenario. First, the family who is working so hard on making the adoption a reality also has the added stress of wondering if another family in Canada or the US will chose "your" child to become part of their family. Second, if there is a "second" family working hard on making this child part of their family, someone, either family 1 or family 2 is going to be hurt and disappointed when the dream becomes just that, a dream. It's sad to think that this can happen especially when the people who are in "control" of the photos of the children KNOW. They know there is a family working hard and yet the child's photo remains where it has been for years......PLEASE ADOPT ME, I NEED A HOME AND I AM RUNNING OUT OT TIME. Yes, its sad that this can happen.

Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do

2011-06-27T06:22:00.004-05:00

We interrupt this blog site to let you know how and why we are blogging with old dates.
During this adoption our hands were tied. Tied in the fact that we could not be open about where we were, how far in the process we were, what city we were in, stuff like that. The reason will start unfolding in the next few posts as the rope around our wrists are loosened and we feel comfortable in sharing more. I wrote these blogs on the date it says, I just never posted them until now.
And I am writing this post today on Monday, June 27!
This post will always be on the top because of the date it was written, June 27th. So to continue reading about our journey to Inna you will need to read the post below this one.
Sorry for the inconvenience but it is what it is.
Now back to are previously read blog.

Thoughts

2011-06-08T05:46:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago our translator helped us get a months worth of internet for about 12 bucks. So I am sitting here in the car on our way to Balta to visit our little sweetie! Yesterday while visiting Inna and the rest of the kids I was full of all kinds of emotion. I cant wait to see her face and pick her up to love her up but I also have a terrible time not doing that to all the kids. So what do I do? I do it to all the kids. Inna has us for the rest of her life, they don't.
This trip has been so different in many ways compared to last years venture. First its not a baby house but a orphanage for the "special" orphans. As children get older in any country the possibility for adoption for these kids fades. They really start to fade in this particular orphanage. They are older kids with special needs. Who wants them?
I have nothing but thoughts running through my head as we take these long drives back and forth from Balta to Kiev. We got a call yesterday telling us there was good news and bad news. Good news is interpol came, bad news is the SDA wanted one more paper that the mother had written stating she did not want Inna and that it was okay for her to be adopted. Well her mother had died a few years ago and our facilitator did not remember seeing that paper in her file. After some phone calls the paper was found but now it had to get to Kiev sooner rather than later so we could keep our court date for this Friday. So the orphanage director gave us the paper and we drove it to Kiev to give to our facilitator so she could give it to the SDA. If that's that kind of problems we have to deal with this time around....not a problem at all!!!
It's sad that we cant be more open about our journey but we cant, not yet.

Hello Saturday

2011-06-04T07:43:00.013-05:00

We had nothing but free time on our hands today. We are in Kiev because we have to be at the embassy on Monday for me to sign the I600 because I wont be coming back after court. Then we will head back down to Balta right after our appointment. So today we went to a few outdoor markets and bought a children's book for Inna to have when she gets older and a bunch of veggies for dinner tonight. We found a Domino's pizza and had lunch there along with 3 guys from Egypt! Then on the drive home we stopped and had the car washed. It was pretty dirty after all the driving we did and not all of the roads were paved so the poor car needed a bath. As soon as we walked in Ginea asked if we wanted to eat. They sure do like feeding us here!!! I miss Inna and the kids where she lives but I struggle with all the feelings I have after we drive away. The kids there are so sweet and precious and I worry and wonder about them. I cant even go there right now or I will be bawling again so lets talk about something else.
Our interpol hasn't cleared yet so we are hoping by Monday, Tuesday at the latest they have some news for us.Our facilitator also knows someone on the other end of the interpol once it leaves the SDA so we are working both sides to find it and speed it along to make sure we can have court on Friday. Oh, we got stopped by the police again!!! This time for driving on the white line when pulling out of the gas station. Our facilitator J was in the back seat pretending to be American. The cop wanted Ken to walk back to his car, J kept telling Ken no, stay in the car and tell them that the embassy told you to always stay with your car! The cop was just trying to get money off of us and did not want to do it in the open in front of all of us. Then V started pleading with him to let us go, in English of course, and that we had an appointment in Kiev. The poor cop was getting pretty frustrated with the whole situation and finally let us go. V told us what he was saying to his partner once we started to drive away and she just kept laughing. At one point there were two policemen there saying to each other, what English do you remember from school, try to remember something. To funny! We have been seeing lots of Ukraine that is for sure! It has been a journey of a life time!
The pictures are from Dominos and the deliver bikes, on the way to the orphanage and the kids dressing the dog with sunglasses. The social service building in Balta, A birds eye view of Kiev and Roc and Paul playing the accordion.

Anything but GROUNDHOGS DAY!

2011-06-03T01:58:00.006-05:00

We have been busy! We rented a car to make things go faster and smoother and they have. It has also given us the opportunity to have the flexibility to do more things and go more places. We have seen LOTS of Ukraine and it has been fun! Roc had our facilitator watch the movie Dumb & Dumber with her. If you have not seen it beware, its dumb!!! This whole trip we have now been using excerpts from the movie to explain our journey. Like when Roman from childrens services needed a ride. Our facilitator told us that it was on the way back to Kiev so we gave him a ride. 11 hours later after getting to Kiev I showed our facilitator a map and asked her since when is here (where we drove Roman to) on the way to here (Kiev)?????? Dumb & Dumber line: Hey this guy looks like he needs a ride.......PICK HIM UP!! Needless to say we are having a lot of fun. We Skype the kids every chance we get and things are going well at home, thank God!
I wish I could be posting publicly/live but as some of you know that would be taking a risk of having Inna not come home with us. We want to be flying under the radar screen as much as possible. The team of facilitators that we used last year, one particular, does not care for us and he could, would, make life pretty unbearable for us if we let him! He has already warned our facilitator and its just better this way for Inna. I would be able to go on with life with my 10 soon to be 12 kids at home in America if that is how things turned out. But if I started blogging today then Inna's chance at a family would be jeopardized. So we are blogging this way for our Inna to be able to come home with us. Wow, and he says he does it for the children?! Really??? So for now we will continue doing our posts this way and once we are home you can read all about our journey. It has been so fun meeting new people, new friends that live here. We also have met friends of our new friends from other countries that are staying and visiting with this family. What an experience for us and I am glad Roxana is getting to do all of this with us. It will be special memories for her! Okay, I'm off to check my email to see if the embassy has gotten back to us. Pakah!

Same Thing Different Day

2011-06-01T01:08:00.006-05:00

We are back in Kiev today, drove in last night around 11. Looked all over for a place to eat but everything closes up around 10. So we just came "home" and luckily had cheese and sandwich meat ready for us as we came through the door. Found out some sad news from home from one of my friends. Her little boy was in a lawn mower accident and is going through quite a lot of surgery's. Poor guy, his name is Blake and is 3 years old. If you could I'm sure they would appreciate some prayers sent their way. We are thinking court will be in a week and then we will come home during the 10 day waiting period. Found out that Inna has 5 older siblings, one who is 10, a brother, that is in foster care here. We don't think that will cause any kind of problem though but one never knows in Ukraine. I found out Jonah has a family coming for him!!! YEAH!!!! I took out my black bag that I carry to the orphanage. I was going to clean it out and bring just enough cloths for our one day trip back to Balta. When I took it out it smelled like the orphanage. It's such a different kind of smell. I don't like it at all!!! We are going to eat and then off on our 4 hour drive back to Balta. We will have a passenger joining us back to Kiev tomorrow (yes we are turning right around once we reach Balta to get some papers to be delivered back in Kiev). It's one of the workers from childrens welfare that needs a lift to somewhere, not sure where yet but he will let us know.

Just A Day In The Life

2011-05-30T11:40:00.016-05:00

OMG!!! We woke up bright and early to go get Inna and the orphanage doctor to go into town to get the paperwork needed for court on her health. We drove in and the same few kids come out from God only knows where to greet us before we even get out of our car. Ken went in to meet with the director again and to let the doctor know we were here and ready to drive into town. Roc saw one older boy smoking and pointed it out to me and I thought out loud, I hope that wasn't Kens cigarette that he just threw. I hoped Ken would have put it out in the ashtray! So we see Ken coming out holding Inna and I asked him what he did with his cigarette. He said he stepped on it, why? I said good, I thought that the boys picked it up to smoke it. He started laughing and asked me where did I think the boys got their cigarettes from. I said I didn't know and he then told me that the doctor gave them his when he was done with them!!!!
There is one boy here around 12 or 13 and he had a green type lizard thingy?! He kept trying to stick a leaf in its mouth to eat. Then he started flicking his head to get him to open his mouth. He kept showing it to me and one time put it down on the sidewalk by me to see and hear me scream when the stupid thing would try running away. He thought that was the funniest thing. I wanted him to be more gentle with the poor thing but that was like trying to tell my kids to stop leaving socks outside by the trampoline, it just wasn't going to happen!!! Finally one of the boys who thinks he is "in charge" came and took it from him. This boy walks around like he is so rough and tough and cool.. The kids here have a pecking order with each other. It is a orphanage of about 70 special needs. Some more severe than the others but kids none the less that have no where to fit into society so this is just one place where they are placed. I see them talking to themselves, hitting each other for something to do, throwing rocks or branches at each other. It's sad because they have NOTHING else to do! Some boys and a few, I think 2, girls play soccer. I think they only have 1 ball. Roc has been playing with them on our visits, of course she has!!! The older, cooler, boys ignore her but the younger boys are very talkative with her. Finally when the "cool" boys see how much fun the others are having with her the chime in and give her the thumbs down when she blocks their shot. The dogs here are Unbelievable!!!! I cannot believe none of the kids have gotten bit the way they are handled. The kids are so rough with them! One dog started barking at us so a boy threw a rock at him and he cried. I got angry and said nyet! Inna was going to hit one of the dogs and I grabbed her hand and yelled at her. Showing her and the others that they have to be gentle with them! Inna has listened to me along with the others so far. At least when they see me around they know they better be nice to the dogs! I brought kid sunglasses along for whoever wanted them and they were putting them on the dog! Inna is infatuated with animals! The first day she wanted to show us the puppies. She brought us to a hole with a wood cover on it for shade. She counted three puppies and asked where the others were. She then brought us way out to the field to another hole with wood cover on top. No puppies there. The boy who was afraid to take candy from us the other day was there and explaining to our facilitator that the puppies were moved to where we had just come from. But Inna was demanding to know where the other two puppies where! It shows me a few things about Inna. 1. She knows her math. 2. She is resilient and determined to get what she wants. 3. She cares about animals......the girl is going to LOVE her new home!!!! Lots of four legged kids running around! I had a rough first week here, I am not going to lie. I knew Inna was transferred and I figured it would be to a special needs orphanage but it has been hard!! What happens to these kids?? How can I NOT remember these faces that are imbedded in my mind and heart? I know a lot of parents going through this say the EXACT same thing!! It weighs heavy on my heart. I wasn't prepared for the location we are at either. We are in the middle of nowhere it seems! We wanted something to do after our visit today so we drove to Moldova! Yup, leave it to us to come up with that one! We drove on these horrible, pot holed, down to crushed rock roads. Sometimes when the road would turn into just dirt it seemed to be smoother and wasn't bad, but then parts of the road would appear and we would be back to pot hole city! The roads would sometimes get really narrow too. We came up on the border crossing and asked it we could drive through. She didn't understand us so she called her supervisor. He spoke very little English but wanted to help us. He said he didn't think we could cross the border here but he kept calling on his phone to someone or someones. We kept telling him that it was okay and we could just turn around but he said wait, wait, wait, I'll find out. He saw Roc taking a photo and yelled and shook his finger at her! He repeated himself several times to Roc and we finally told her to put the camera away! He asked us to park until he could find the answer for us and as we were waiting a guy came pulling up with camouflage on. He spoke better English and asked why we wanted to go to Moldova? We/Ken said we just thought it would be kind of fun to step foot in another country as long as we are here. He looked at us funny and said you can visit Moldova, just not at this border. He was very nice to us as all the people here have been. Ken then asked if we could at least take a photo of the "welcome to Ukraine" sign!?! They said sure! haha! To funny! They must think we are nuts! Maybe we are, I don't know? Then about 15 miles outside of Balta a stranded car along with a cop and a few older women were in the street. We stopped and rolled down are window because the cop was kind of motioning us to pull over. He started speaking really fast in Russian and we said nyet, English. He said ENGLISH???? Then he kind of laughed to himself. He said Balta??? We said yes so he just got in our car?!?!?! Ken figured that he wanted a ride to work because his car broke down but Roc and I were like, what the heck is going on here???? After he got out he said "thank you very much" in perfect English!! I bet he practiced that all the way to Balta! The poor guy, what day he was having. His car breaks down on his way to work in the middle of nowhere and the only car for miles is full of Americans who don't speak Ukrainian or Russian!!!! And we thought we were having a rough day!!! hehehehehehe! Roc and I were doing scenes from dumb and dumber all day. Hey, here is a guy that looks like he needs a lift.......pick him up.......Mock Ing, Bird Ing. Okay, you have to watch the movie! Seriously, Roc and I were funny today! Hoping for court next week we shall see how it goes. God only knows!!!
The photos are from today in no particular order. I just downloaded them and they came out this way and at the top of the post. They are from the beautiful countryside and things we saw, the cop leaving are car and the few photos Roc did happen to get at the border!

May 28

2011-05-29T00:27:00.010-05:00

Well it has been a few days but we finally have internet connection. What can I say about the lst couple of days that do not bring tears to my eyes and make my heart sad? Well I can say our facilitator is GREAT!!! This is such a different experience from last summer. Our flight in was fine and we stayed in Amsterdam the first night. Never actually walked in Amsterdam and looked around but this time around we did just that. It was fun and interesting. A unique group of people make up the Netherlands and it is really a beautiful place. Then the following morning we were in Kiev met promptly by our facilitator and driver. We are staying with friends of our facilitator. We pay a small amount compared to if we were on our own plus their is always a home cooked meal waiting for us morning, noon and night!!!! We even had accordion music to listen to one evening before Dinner. How cool was that! We took the subway, walked and then found our bus to bring us to the WWII Museum one day which was fun and took most of the day. We decided to rent a car since we did not have to go all the way to Odessa. It was a good thing we did because I have no clue how we would have gotten to the orphanage twice a day without having to buy the actually taxi!!!!!!!! No trollies or reliable buses here!! Our facilitator made a few phone calls and sure enough, she knows someone that knows someone that has a 5 room house and would LOVE for us to stay with them! So once again, home cooked food all day long. Except this time mama got to enjoy the homemade wine they make with every meal if she chooses!!!LOL. We went to the Social Services to talk to some people there first and then came back later in the day to pick one of them up to go to the orphanage with us. The woman who came with us previously worked at the orphanage for 5 years before getting her job at Social Service. She told us a lot about the orphanage since she knew so much about it from working there. It is home to around 70 special needs kids ages 6 to 18. Some of the children are orphans, some are not. The town we are in is called Balta but we still have to drive about 1/2 hour or more to reach the orphanage. There are 3 orphanages in Balta, 2 in town and ours which is out of town.
This post will probably be long because I am going to tell you about where our girl has lived for the past 9 months.
We drove for what seemed like 1 hour on these roads that were full of pot holes like I have never seen before. I'm from Minnesota so I've seen a mean looking pot hole before but seriously, this was ridicules!!!!! Swerving back and fourth from one lane to the other, it was more like an amusement ride of some kind. We saw MANY horse and buggy's as this and walking are the main way of transportation out here in the villages. Then we turned onto a small dirt road that lead to the orphanage. Kids were outside doing different things. Once they saw the lady we were with they remembered here from working there and some of the kids came up to give her a hug and talk with her. She was very kind and really cared about these kids. She talked with them and asked how they were doing. It was a very nice thing to see. Then we went into a big room and people just started coming in to "witness" the first meeting. Our facilitator explained to them that we had met our little girl last year and played with her almost everyday. The head lady at the welfare place did ask us if we knew how special needs she was and how would we be able to take care of her and the three special needs we adopted last year. We told her that even though it does take more time bringing them to doctor or therapy appointments they are just as much or little work as our other kids. No biggie! She seemed okay with that answer. She did have more things in her file that we were not aware of but by no way would that or did that change our minds about her!!! She was ours and we were hers!
The older boys at the orphanage latched onto Ken right away. All the kids who saw us were following us.
There is no fence around this building. All the baby houses seemed to have fences around them. Where the lost boys are has a fence around it. No fence here. I'm not sure why they would need one anyway, there is NO PLACE to go! On the ride there I kept thinking what she must have been thinking driving all this way from the only home she has ever known. Were any other kids with her from her baby house or was it just her on this long journey. I was crying the whole way there on and off. Trying to tell myself its not going to help anyone with me crying! But then I would think of her all by herself and it made me sad and a little guilty that we could not get to her sooner somehow to make this not have had to happen to her. I knew she was scheduled for transfer in September but we just couldn't make it happen until now. Would she remember us? Would she remember Dani, Josh and Artem? There were a total of 6 or 7 people in the room but once our Inna walked in it felt like only her and I were in the room!!! I went down on my knees to make it easier for her and just kept saying her name over and over as I was hugging her. She looked out of sorts kind of, not the little girl I remembered with so much life and zest in her. She didn't remember us but was happy to see someone who obviously knew her. I pulled out the photo book I had from last summer with her playing with us and the kids and you could see in her eyes that it started clicking. She didn't want any other toys at that moment and just wanted to look at the photos. It then hit her, she said, through our facilitator, that she had thought where we were where did we go last year?!?! She really remembered Joshy and one of the caretakers that was in one of the photos from childrens day last year. She then got it. She pointed to me in the photo book and then touched my shoulder and said mama. She did the same for Ken then, pointed him out in the photo book and then touched his shoulder and said papa!!!! She remembered!!!! She doesn't get that she is coming home with us. She askes everyday if we will be back tomorrow. There is no one there that keeps the other kids away while we are visiting with Inna which is really okay with me. All these kids need attention and some loving! Once in a while Inna will get jealous and grab us and sit on our laps to show we are there for her, but that's her right now, its her turn to do that. She has waited far to long for a family and it's her turn now.
The kids are older, like I said, and most have issues. What exactly they are I'm not sure. I think a lot of people would just say its a place where a bunch of misfits live. But it is not that. It is so far from being that. These kids that live here don't see a lot of people. So we are something rare and special that has come through. They follow from a distance and watch. I offered one little boy candy who had been following us with Inna all day. He kept saying nyet every time. He saw the other kids take me up on my offer, but every time I asked he would shy away and said nyet. Finally after about 2 hours there I gave the last box of candy to a boy who took the box quickly to stand by a tree by himself hoping no one else would see he had the candy. They did and they all started going towards him to get some. The boy who would not take candy from me grabbed a few pieces from the boy walk away and started eating them. As he was eating and opening more to eat, he looked at me and said spasibo! If that alone does not change a person forever, I don't know what in life will! A lot of the older kids want so much to be next to us but are scared of us. The littler kids swarms us. One little boy was begging Ken that we should be his mama and papa! How can that one not change you???? Then there was the 12 year old girl who was being picked on another older girl. They both had special needs which were obvious. The way one would repeat things over and over and over and then talk to herself while the other one just laughed and laughed at her and also was talking to herself. It was just sad. So then I grabbed my hand lotion and big body spray out and had ALL the kids that were around come over to get some.....including the one girl who was being picked on. I showed them how good it smells and to rub the lotions all over. They loved it!!!
I needed a little breather so I asked Ken to try to keep their attention while I just walked to the end of the property and back. Well it was like a scene from Monty Python!!!! I would walk and knew they were following because I could here footsteps behind me. So I would stop and turn around and there was a group of about 6, 7 kids all behind a tree. So I would walk some more, stop, turn around and they would stop behind another tree!!! That was the only humor Ken and I got for the day. It was just so obvious I was not going to have any kind of breather/break!!!! So back I went to play and take pictures of the kids so they could see themselves on TV(camera) hehehehe! They loved it.
On the ride back to home I just broke down thinking what will happen to these kids? Why were they here? What would become of the kids that seemed mentally okay but maybe not physically? So many questions, so many thoughts, so many decisions. I just decided to let go and let God! I learned that long ago and now more than ever this is what I needed to do to get through this adoption. Once I get home I will do something to make a difference for these kids left behind! I am trying to connect with the people I need to connect with to make a difference.
After all the adoptions we have done I now know that I need to be doing something that will help all the kids left behind. I can no longer tell myself that I'm to busy or I have done my part. So I have started. Meeting people that will hopefully be able to help me help the kids. We are here for awhile longer and I will definitely be networking finding even more people to help me!

Waiting - May 25

2011-05-25T03:17:00.005-05:00

Talk to the kids last night. Actually I stayed up all night searching for info on where we will be traveling to and the orphanage our little one was transferred to. The more I read the harder it was to get to sleep! So needless to say I was awake all night. It is definitely harder this time around because there are so many more kids at home telling me they miss me and when am I coming home and showing me notes and cards they made for me. Ugh, its not even been a week!!! Then I found out that when Lica was mowing she left the gate open. We have a big fenced back yard. Well there are five dogs, my 3 and the 2 brother puppies we bought grandpa from the shelter (another post). So they thought one of the puppies ran away but he was under the deck the whole time. I reminded Lica she has to check the gate so nobody gets out. We will be leaving around 3:00 to head for the region and hopefully get to give our big girl a huge HUG. I will get to wrap my arms around our little somebody that I haven't been able to do for 1 year!!! Cant wait! It wont be so hard saying good bye to the family we are staying with because I'm betting we will be back staying with them while doing embassy stuff!!

2ND DAY & APPT DAY - MAY 23, 2011

2011-05-23T13:20:00.006-05:00

Our appointment with the SDA took only about 10 minuites! Nothing like the 2 hour appointment date we had last year. One of the head ladies that works at the SDA was walking in the hall as we were walking into the room to have a seat. She was very excited to see us again as she remembered Roc right away. Remember back in 2008, Ken and Roxana came here to try to hand in our dossier without a facilitator! This women has seen us almost every year for the last four years! She must think we are nuts or something but she gets a huge kick when she sees us again!
We are staying with a family that are good friends of our facilitator and I cannot tell you how kind they have been to us. They have three grown boys and a daughter who is 14 so Roc is in heaven. Their daughter speaks a little English but otherwise the two girls communicate by Google translate. They have been watching movies and funny videos on you-tube.
We found a few things out about our little one that we didn't know but we were not overly surprised by any of the new details. She has been transferred from where we saw her last so it will be interesting to say the least! Roc is out running around with our facilitator who is picking up homework from her daughter that is being sent by bus. We had lunch at TGIF after our appointment and then waited outside for the taxi driver that drove us to the SDA. Why were we waiting for THAT driver?........Roc left the camera in the car. So our facilitator made a call, not promising anything, to see if she could get the camera back. They found the camera but it would take a few hours because he had clients in his cab.
So that was our day today. So far so good. Kids are doing well at home as well. James wanted to know if we were done and coming home tomorrow!! He had a tough time last year with us gone so long. We promised him not this time, not that long!!!

IT'S TIME

2011-05-19T10:47:00.002-05:00

Well the time has finally come. Three kids from two different countries are waiting for us to come bring them home! I said I wanted them all home by the end of June and it looks like that is just what is going to happen. Please pray for my kids staying behind. Family and friends holding down the fort while we are gone. And also all my four legged kids who will wonder where I am. It definitely gets harder to travel when we are leaving so many more kids at home! But SO worth it!

iPad Giveaway

2011-05-09T05:07:00.003-05:00

Two of the cutest little twins I have ever met live in Eastern Europe, in an orphanage, waiting.
The great news is that they won't have to wait much longer!!! In just 3 weeks and 2 days they will be able to wrap those tiny little arms of theirs around there mama and papa for the first time!
As we all know, the cost of bringing these little ones home is crazy. So for the next 13 days Alex and Ray will be trying to raise some more funds to bring Max and Lena home. Please go check out their blog and read about this sweet family! They are so close and we can all help them with a donation, small or big, to show our support by clicking here. It will be two less orphans in the world and that is what this is all about!

MAX & LENA for the Darrow family–Hutto, TX

Ramon (Ray)and Amber (Alex) have been married 7 years. They are blessed with 3 biological kids. Their oldest Ian is almost 6. He is sensitive, intense and passionate about everything, and loves to take things apart and figure out how they work. Chava is almost 4. She loves gymnastics and taking careful care of her dolls, including regular diaper changes. Micah is almost 2. He loves whatever his older siblings are doing, but most of all he loves trains and helping mommy and daddy in the kitchen by stirring and tasting. Ray works in IT at Dell, Inc. Alex takes good care of the kids at home full time, and also is starting to homeschool Ian.

Ray and Alex were completely surprised when the pieces starting very quickly falling in to place to adopt. Alex had shown Ray a waiting child on RR that had caught her eye, when he surprisingly responded that they could consider adopting. After a week or two of much discussing and dreaming they formally started down the path to grow their family. They have felt a particular affinity to HIV+ kids, and look forward to bringing Max and Lena home where proper nutrition and medical care can make a world of difference in their prognosis.

5/4/11—APPT IS MAY 30

Follow the Darrow family's adoption journey on their blog at http://iveyrock.wordpress.com/

Like to WIN a DRR 300 ATV????

2011-05-04T22:22:00.005-05:00

Well.....Remember Irina? This is her with her mama back in February.

You might remember this photo of her!
Anywho, the Allen's are bringing home another beauty. Her name is Addison. A lot of divine intervention has been happening for the Allen's to be able to bring little Addison home!
They have a awesome give away going on right now to help raise the remaining funds needed to bring their newest daughter home. Just click here to read about it.
Even if you can't give anything, please leave an encouraging comment and let them know your prayers are with them.

Something Fun

2011-05-04T08:30:00.003-05:00

Casey Wiegand is a freelance artist. She sells the majority of her work through local galleries and her website. She loves doing commissions and loves to share her life through her blog. If you stop by you can expect pieces of her perspective on life, faith, kids, marriage...with touches of art, creative inspiration, projects and things she loves along the way.

Now meet her artwork:

Her paintings are AMAZING...

and you can find TONS of items to fit your style at her shop HERE.

Guess what! Today you will be entering to win a

$25 shop credit for one of her paintings!!!

{What a perfect Mother's Day gift for mama!}

To Enter:

1.Follow Casey Wiegand's INSPIRING blog HERE

2. Like Casey Wiegand's FB page HERE

3. Repost via twitter/blog/or facebook!

4. Follow The Shine Project

4 possible entries!

Share the Love Giveaway

2011-04-29T10:24:00.001-05:00

Share the Love Giveaway: Bring Poppy and Esther home!

A wonderful family is working hard to bring home their two daughters from China! They are having a couple of giveaways that have some pretty amazing prizes! Some which include a Ipad 2, Nikon D90, and more! So click right HERE to head over and see all the cool prizes they have.

Want a iPad2 or Other Great Prizes???

2011-04-06T09:54:00.007-05:00

There are a few blogs out there where you could win a iPad2. Not only could you win but you would be helping the Davis family who are appealing the judge's ruling to the Supreme Court of Moscow to bring Kirill home. Or the Taylor family bringing Alexander home. Then there is little sweet Tasha/Ember for the Senti family. And lets not forget Brian for the Burger family!
There is one more! Vanya. A little boy with a dream. A dream of a family of his own.
You would be helping these families trying so hard to raise the money to bring their children home!
Please consider helping one or all of these sweet faces get home where they belong!

Help Bring Samantha Home

2011-04-02T18:17:00.005-05:00

Fundraiser going on to help bring Samantha home!!!! Check it out here!!! I would wish you good luck but I want to win so good luck to me! LOL!!

Auction for Brian!

2011-03-21T20:01:00.006-05:00

Brian is a little boy that is in the same orphanage as Dani, Josh and Artem were at. How CUTE is he????!!!!!! His family is having an auction with some really cool stuff to help bring him home. You should really go check it out and place a bid on one of the items. Just click on the name Brian to do a little shopping and help bring him home!!! As most of you know it is not a lot of fun trying to come up with the money to adopt but SO worth it. Please consider helping the Burger family with a donation.

Things........

2011-03-08T17:35:00.006-06:00

The middle of February Ken and I had the chance to go to Chicago for a Project Hopeful conference. I wanted to go to educate myself on the adoption/raising of kids that are HIV+. Not only adopting kids with HIV but HIV in general. We had a free flight, free room and someone to watch the kids! It was really educational and we met A LOT of people and some new friends. Anyone remember this sweet face???

IRINA!!! The Allen family along with other RR families were there and it was so cool to meet them and their sweet, sweet kids! It's funny how you read about these families and then finally get to meet them, in person.
Kiel and Carolyn Twietmeyer along with their kids are wonderful advocates for these kids and I hope some day I could do as great of a job as they do!

It's funny how things happen around here. It all seems to hit at once. The last three weeks we have had the cold/flu going from one person to another. Everyone seemed to get through it fine except Denis. I had made a doctor appointment for him at 4:00 but at 1:00 I rushed him into the clinic. They then sent us straight to the emergency at Children's Hospital. They worked on him trying to get his oxegen up and testing him for what seemed like everything and got him on a IV. After 4 hours they tranfered him to the U of M. They thought it would be better since the U had all his records and more info on his heart. He spent 4 days in the ICU and 2 days in his own little isolation room. After all was said and done he was diagnosed with a viral infection. He is having all his dental work done in the next three weeks and then his heart surgery this summer, which is only a few months away. Ugh, I'm really nervous about it!! He has only gained 1 1/2 pounds since being home, a whole whopping 19lbs! And he will be 5 in 8 days. And yes, he eats like a little piggy so I don't get it?!?! They had a super hero day at the hospital one day and handed out costumes for all the kids and had games and contests. Here is a picture of our little super hero!!

He looks so big because the costume was WAY to big for him so Kaylee laid in right on top of him!! hehehe! Even when is so sick he's SOOOOOO CUTE! Love that boy!
He's feeling much better and back to his normal self.

The Friday we brought Denis home my dad called and said something was wrong with Jack (his dog). So I drove the 2 1/2 hours right away to go see what was happening with my boy Jack! We brought him into the emergency vet at 11 p.m. By 12:30 they diagnosed him with having diabetes and a urinary infection. After getting a dose of insulin and some antibiotics we were on our way. I just knew in my gut that something was wrong though. He slept by me that night like he always does when I'm at his house or he is at mine but by morning he was doing worse. I told my dad that I was bringing him back home with me to my vet. He loves, loves, loves the car and I'm glad I was able to give him his last long car ride with the windows down until Roc and I got to cold and had to put them up! We laid him in my room on a comfy dog bed where he passed within the hour. I loved that dog so much. He was such a good boy! What I wasn't expecting though is that my dad would take it so hard. I mean he was always the one there for me growing up when one of our animals went on to greener pastures. But Jack was my dads buddy, his pal. They went everywhere together! I think it was one of the hardest things I had to do was when I called my dad to tell him I couldn't fix Jack. Ugh, I'm bawling now just thinking about it all. Ken and Roc drove Jack back up to grandpas to bring him home. I did make sure he had a soft dog bed, bone, lawn mower wheel which he loved to chew on and my blanket that has been around the world with me! Ken and dad were none to happy with me because of the bigger frozen hole they had to did because of the big dog bed going with Jack, but oh well!! Love you Jack and I will NEVER EVER forget the joy you brought to me, grandpa and my kids!

Here is some other things going on around here.........

Joshy is having surgery this Thursday. He is having his tonsils out, tubes in his ears, a CT scan, a brain response test and all his dental work done, which is a TON! Poor guy, I'm sure he will not be a happy camper the next few days after.

Arti is doing great! In fact he is running around and around the table as I type this. The boy has energy!

Dani is scheduled to have her first surgery before she starts school in the fall. They are not sure yet if she can see out of the eye where the hemoglobin was pushing on her eye. It has left the skin just hanging unable for her to open it very wide. She is one loud girly!!! In fact out of all the kids, she is defintely the LOUDEST!!! But she is also very, very polite. She says thank you to everything. If you wash her hands, she says thank you. If you buy groceries, she says thank you. If you pick up something off the floor, she says thank you. It is so funny and cute.

Charley will be having another surgery this month too on his ears. He has holes in his ear drums. He always seems to have infections which is causing hearing loss. After the surgery he will have a pick line for us to give him his antibiotics through. He had this after his surgery a few years ago and he did really well with it. Hoping the same is true this time around.

The other kids are doing well and are looking forward to their new siblings! Hopefully by June everyone will be home for good........unless I beg Ken to go back for more! LOL!!!

Jonah

2011-02-17T15:31:00.009-06:00

There is a little boy that we met at the orphanage and his name is Jonah. A blogging friend who has such a way with words, is advocating for him. Julia knows first hand the outcome that awaits this little boy if his family does not go get him! Jonah is a quiet little boy. He does what he is told without hesitation....well, unless Roc is in the room. Roc went up to Jonah's room one day while she was exploring the orphanage. Jonah and another little boy were making their beds. Roc saw them and decided that what fun is making a bed when I can chase them!! So she started chasing them around the room. Jonah was laughing and having so much fun! The caretaker was telling him to keep making his bed but of course he was having way to much fun with Roc and chose getting yelled at instead! (mean Roc getting the little kids in trouble!!!) When Roc had to leave she walked out the door and Jonah ran after her. He stopped at the door to look for her but then got yelled at once again by the caretaker. We did notice that since he was more "capable" of doing chores he was expected and did more of them while the other kids were fooling around. We never saw him outside the whole time we were there! Not sure why?!
His spirit is slipping away from the years of not having the luxury of being the little boy he was meant to be!
He is very tiny, smart and a loving little boy and if someone does not chose him for their son, I'm going back for him!!! I love this little boy and he has SO much potential!!! Please search your hearts and see if Jonah is part of your family! If he is not, please donate to help his family go get him!

Who's Idea Was This Anyway???

2011-02-03T17:40:00.002-06:00

When we adopted from 2 different regions in Eastern Europe last summer, folks told us it would be hard. But there was no way I could let Denis be transferred. This was they boy that I first was drawn to when finding RR. Who would have thought after seeing his face over 1 year prior he would be home, with us, his family?? Looking back at it though, it all seemed rather easy compared to what craziness we are going through now adopting from two countries!! Its not all the paperwork (done) or running (done), its the wondering how in the world (no pun intended) we will be at 2 places, 2 continents, at once. I'm praying it will all work itself out and we will do one right after the other.
Someone from Ingrid's (our girl in Colombia) orphanage is here in Minnesota and we are meeting up with her on Sunday! I guess her daughter lives here in the Twin Cities and she came up to spend some time with her and her new grandson! Small world! She has a letter and photos for us from Ingrid! Ingrid turned 16 last week but our paperwork was far enough along to stop the clock for her! Thank you God!!!
She just has to wait a little longer before she can come home. We have to go bring our little one home from Eastern Europe first!!!
I'm a little nervous as to what I will see when returning to EE. Our girl was transferred out of the baby house a few months ago. She thought she was going home with us last summer and was SO upset when we left. Who could blame her!?!? Will I ever be able to make it up to her? Oh how I hope so! I can not wait to grab her and hug her and kiss her sweet face!
All the kids are doing well and driving mom crazy.....just like they are supposed to! But how come its mostly mom they drive crazy and not so much tata(dad)???????

Found Searching on The Net

2011-01-21T17:40:00.002-06:00

A 3rd Grade Boy's Take On God
This was written by an 8-year-old named Danny Dutton, who lives in Chula Vista , CA . He wrote it for his third grade homework assignment, to 'explain God.' I wonder if any of us could have done as well?

EXPLANATION OF GOD:
'One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn't make grownups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn't have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that to mothers and fathers.'

'God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things, pray at times beside bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because he hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in his ears, unless he has thought of a way to turn it off.'

'God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting his time by going over your mom and dad's head asking for something they said you couldn't have.'

'Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any in Chula Vista ... At least there aren't any who come to our church.'

'Jesus is God's Son. He used to do all the hard work, like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn't want to learn about God.. They finally got tired of him preaching to them and they crucified him But he was good and kind, like his father, and he told his father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said O.K.'

'His dad (God) appreciated everything that he had done and all his hard work on earth so he told him he didn't have to go out on the road anymore.. He could stay in heaven. So he did. And now he helps his dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important for God to take care of and which ones he can take care of himself without having to bother God. Like a secretary, only more important.'

'You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.'

'You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God!

Don't skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach.. This is wrong. And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon anyway.'

'If you don't believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you, like to camp, but God can. It is good to know He's around you when you're scared, in the dark or when you can't swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids.'

'But....you shouldn't just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and he can take me back anytime he pleases.

And...that's why I believe in God..'

One At A Time!

2011-01-11T18:20:00.001-06:00

One BUSY Month

2011-01-03T09:10:00.034-06:00

Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love to decorate the house, bake lots of yummy deserts, make up gift bags for the nursing home where my grandma lives and watch the Christmas specials on TV with the kids.
I knew this year would be a little different. We were not sure if we would get a "date" to travel from Colombia so not much at all in the decorating department. Did not want to leave all the packing up and putting away to someone else if we were gone nor did I want to have to do it once we return with new siblings!! We knew gift giving would be VERY small since we are saving every little bit for the adoptions. We also did not get a chance to watch ANY specials together as a family because either some of the kids were out caroling with the church or practicing their Christmas programs at church and school or out shoveling in the neighborhood for extra money to come with us (Roc) on one of our journeys. So needless to say, a VERY BUSY month.

But something very special happened to the Fritz farm over the last 4 weeks. Something that brings tears to my eyes then and now when I look back at it all! How do we thank friends, coworker and from people we just met for the first time? How does one put into words the impact these people have had on our family, just a normal family? I'm not sure. But this post will be part of it. It will be long. It will be from the heart. It will be a small way for us to thank ALL of you that helped make this a special Christmas and a VERY special memory. A story to tell our soon to be new Fritz's of how all of you helped them to come home.The first week in December our friends Kit and Ken asked us to come over for a little Christmas get together. Just the 4 adults, no kids! Ken had made tons of horsdoeuvres and had spent time making it look wonderful!!! I was hoping my Ken took notes, but I don't think so :( LOL! We talked about their Thanksgiving and how they had 20 some people over. How some of their guests started talking about seeing Lica and our story on TV. Well one of their guest said that they wanted to do something for us so she told Kit to buy a HUGE tub of dishwasher detergent which Kit presented to me?! Okay...... That was nice, I thought. I wish I could use it, but as Kit knew already, my dishwasher was kind of on its last legs and we have been doing dishes by hand. I mean she was close to 15 years old, which is great for a dishwasher but none the less, not doing the job any longer. So as the four of us were joking about if we could use the detergent as regular dish soap, Kit and Ken handed us a folder full of papers. They said that they were giving us our Christmas present early. You guessed it, a new dishwasher!!!! It was going to be delivered in 5 days and they were going to take our old one when they brought the new one. I say that because Ken and I are ones that do all that sort of thing ourselves. I mean who wants to pay to have someone deliver and take our old things? I must say though, It was WONDERFUL to have that extra service. I really kind of liked it!!! The kids were beyond ecstatic, it meant no more washing by hand! I told them that when I was a kid my sister and I had to wash dishes by hand. Kaylee, without missing a beat, reminded me that we didn't have 10 kids in my family!!! hahahaha!!! True, very true!

Next, we received a call from our agency telling us that their was a family wanting to help another family with their adoption and if they could recommend one. They recommended us! Our agency told this family about us and then gave them the link to watch Lica and our family that was shown on the news a few weeks earlier. The family watched it and then wanted to know if they could meet us. Of course they could meet us and the kids! I LOVE it when folks want to meet my kids! We got in contact with this family and they were wondering if they could bring their three kids and also their best friends who are in the process of their first adoption from the Philippines along with their 13 year old. Sure, bring them with too!!! Then their best friends brought a friend and we had around 10 guests, now friends, enjoying each others company! They loved on our kids, talked about adoption, orphans, school, jobs, animals and just a a great time. They brought us a HUGE gift basket full of crackers, cheese, olives and of course, what the kids spotted right away, COOKIES! Then before they left they asked if they could pray, pray for our family. I can honestly say that in my life time I have never had someone ask to pray for my family specifically! It felt so good!!! A kitchen full of people praying for us, for our adoption, health and wisdom. Never will I forget it or the peace and happiness it brought to me! That night alone would have been enough! But there was more. Ken told me once they left that he had talked with Mr. Jacobsen, Peter, about how they wanted to help pay our debt off that we owed to our agency!!! And that is just what they did! $7,000.00 to pay our agency leaving a $0.00 balance!!!!! Our agency is now paid in FULL!!!!! Things like this just do not happen to us! I read about it on other blogs but they just do not happen to us. I guess they do now!!! How blessed are we to have this happen!!

Oh, it does not stop here. One late afternoon there was a knock on our door with a young lady. She started talking with Roc but Roc soon was yelling for me to get down there. It was someone living in Cottage Grove with the organization "Moms Club". They donate every year to places and were looking for a family this year. Rebecca saw Licas story on WCCO TV and knew she had found her/their family to help this year. With all that was going on in the past view days my emotions were a little raw and all I could do once she told me was to grab her and hug her. I don't think I let go of this poor women for a while! I just kept saying thank you, thank you with tears in my eyes. She asked us to make up a list of things the kids would like as well as mom and tata. And mom and tata REALLY wanted diapers, wipes and kids body wash!!!! A few weeks later Rebecca, Milissa and Michelle, all from the "Moms Club", dropped off presents for our family along with a huge box of oranges and apples and bags of candy for each kiddo! The kids had a blast! After pictures were taken the kids made a human chain to pass the gifts up to our tiny little Christmas tree this year!

We had a few days to enjoy the gifts under our tree before we moved them all a block away to Kit and Kens house where we celebrated Christmas with them and their two kids on the 23rd. It was also Charley's birthday so we had to have birthday cake first!

We had one more stop to make. Grandpas house. 2 1/2 hours away! So on the 24th after the Christmas programs, we loaded TWO cars up with gifts from my coworkers, kids and 3 dogs, we don't all fit in one, and headed over the river and through the woods, literally!!!! Grandpa, my dad, built his home himself and its not very big! It is only a two bedroom home. So we had 3 adults, 10 kids, four dogs and a partridge in a pear tree all inside! We all had so much fun though. We go up north to dads every holiday. Then when we get home we appreciate our 5 bedroom soooooo much more!!!!!

Between my coworkers picking my family for the "armfull of love" campaign and "the moms club" choosing us for their family, Ken and I could take all the money we would have spent on Christmas for all 10 kids and put it towards the adoption of our three newest Fritz's!!!!! And that is just what we did.

Thank you all so much for everything!

Olga E

2010-12-22T16:50:00.006-06:00

Adoption from Olga's region

Ok, I know I haven't been able too raise as much money as I would like for Olga E's adoption grant, but I've been in contact with several people who has adopted out of her region recently. They say that this is a fast and easy region, with easy travel and good accommodations. They also say that the orphanages are good, and the children well taken care of.
Please consider adopting Olga E, and spread the word about her, so her family can find her.

This is a post from http://www.xmaswarrior.blogspot.com/

PLEASE help spread the word about Olga and donate something to help get her home!

So Much Change in 5 Months!

2010-12-15T17:10:00.007-06:00

Remeber the first time we met Artem (Luke)? How scared I was. How I wasn't sure if it would be a good fit. How I wasn't sure if the kids at home might not be able to handle him. How this, that and the other thing. And then how you guys out there told me to give it time, it will be okay, wait till he gets out of those 4 walls he has been in his whole life? Remember?
All I can say is I am SO glad I listend to all of you!!! I cannot imagine my life with out Artem. For a little boy that was afraid of almost everything he sure has settled right into life at the Fritz Farm! Both Josh and Artem started school a few weeks ago where they are getting all sorts of therapy! Arti has learned to love bath time and brushing his teeth. He has learned to sign 'more' when wanting more food or more PLAY! LOL He has learned that when any of his sibling say no he can laugh at them but when mom or tata say no it means no!! To cute! (not for his older sisters though), and his first word was Bob! Why? Because my husband and my 30 yr old nephew call each other Bob for some reason. So he hears Bob a lot!!! So one day when we were all sitting here Arti just yelled BOB! Now he goes around the house saying Bob, Bob, Bob! But the best thing he has learned so far is to laugh, be happy and how getting BIG hugs and kisses from mom feels really, really good!!! Oh how I LOVE that boy!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FRITZ FARM!

2010-12-07T19:37:00.003-06:00

Let Roc Know

2010-12-03T16:17:00.003-06:00

When we went to Ukraine to adopt our four kids we knew we would need a little help with everything. We decided to bring Roc with us for a few reasons. One was that she really wanted to go. She worked for her ticket for months by selling corn on the cob door to door. Selling bracelets at school and all the different sports game the school was having. Shoveling driveways, mowing grass, raking leaves. You name it, she did it. She is a go getter!! Another reason was because where we were going was only around 250 miles away from where she was born. And yet another reason was because I thought it was important for her to see how some kids live. Not just in the orphanages but in a country not as wonderful as the US. There were some pretty difficult things that she saw and I know it has changed her life.
When we decided to continue on with our family blog, we also wanted to advocate for the orphans looking for a home. So Roc and I thought it would be meaningful for us to make a video showing and telling the story of the plight of orphans. So we did. Truth be told though, I'm not good at making a video, or getting a video on my blog, or knowing anything about it. The video sitting on the side called "Don't Pass Them By" is a video Roc made from her heart. A video of some of the kids we met. A video of some of the kids Roc played with. A video of where part of our hearts remain. Roxana is gone this weekend at her grandpas house. I want to do something fun for her about her video. I'm asking you to watch it and then comment on what you think of it. How you think she did. I think she did great but then again I'm only mom and I guess that's what I'm supposed to say. At least that's what Roc tells me! So let her hear from some of you who are not her mom on how she did, she will listen to you! LOL

A HUGE Thank You

2010-12-01T07:36:00.007-06:00

So if you watch the video on the side about Lica and her "star Power", you will know how this chain of events happened. 20 years ago we found Vasilica (Lica) on a news story our local station did. Don Shelby and Bob Cowan, the photographer, who did the story have been following Lica's life and doing updates on her every 5 or so years. So when we heard Don was retiring we kind of figured he would want to meet with Lica one last time. Never did we imagine it would be one of his most memorable stories he has done over the last 30 some years! Well, after the story aired the questions and comments started coming. I'm not sure my coworkers knew I had one adopted child let alone 10! And I know they didn't know how Lica became our daughter. I'm a pretty private person and I hate attention. I LOVE the attention my kids get and adoption in general but Ken and I are not good at asking for anything or sharing our life story. So when Tina, my supervisor and Kim, a coworker and friend came to me and said that they along with others in the office saw Lica's story and so they wanted to do something for our family, I was hesitant. They wanted to adopt our family for Christmas this year! Not just my department but all the other departments in the building! The whole "Silverbell" group at Blue Cross!!! I immediately said no, why pick my family. Lets pick a family that is in need! Well coworkers kept wanting to do something for us and so Tina asked me again. I talked it over with Ken and the kids and my dad. My dads response was "Well for crying out loud, you have 15 kids, let them do something nice for you!!!" Okay dad, first, I don't have 15 kids and thanks for seeing my point of view! Love that guy!!!!!!!
So anyway, we thought it was a VERY, VERY nice thing to do. We could save the money we would have spent on gifts for the kids to go toward the adoptions we are in the process of. And also, the kids would have a blast. It's kind of funny and heartwarming looking through what the kids wrote down. Lica just wanted ONE blond hair extension and a Reece's peanut butter cup, King Size. Kaylee wanted small rubber bands to do Jerlin's and Dani's hair with and Charley just wanted a big car to push around. James wanted a dinosaur and the other kids really didn't care what they got. How did I get so lucky with such great kids!?!? How did I get so lucky to have such great coworkers to do this for us?!?!
So this holiday season my family has been "adopted" in sorts by a group of people that have been touched by 10 very special kiddos! THANK YOU!
And to the little girl in the video who has grown into an amazing young lady.......Oh the lives she has touched!!!!

We Are Going Back!

2010-11-30T03:05:00.002-06:00

Not only going back to Eastern Europe to adopt a someone special we met there but also going back to South America to adopt TWO special someones! We thought if we could handle two different regions at once why the heck cant we do two different countries at once?!?! We are totally INSANE! This has been crazy difficult trying to coming up with the funds. It's not as easy this time around going out to get a second job. The kids need me at home. Not easy having garage sales this time since we just had 5 of them within the last year to raise funds for our last adoption in June plus there really is not a lot left to sell from our things as well as other folks stuff. Not as easy putting overtime in as we always seem to be running to a doctor/therapy appointment for one of the kids. And of course not easy asking for your help again. But here we are as a family sewing up a storm and crafting like crazy to sell things at craft sales, pick up odd jobs here and there and putting all our change in the piggy banks. All to bring home 3 special kids. Crazy? Maybe. But I have seen a small glimpse of the sadness and hopelessness in the eyes of many children and cannot get that out of my mind. I have witnessed that look fade away in the eyes of all my kids throughout the years. So it seems "crazy" for us not to bring more home.
The hard part of adoption, as most of you know, isn't the raising of the kids but the raising of the money to get them home. Adoption is expensive. We are adopting from two countries and the paperwork for one is done and just about paid for. The other, not quite. If you would like to help out by donating to our cause, there is info on the side of the post. If you have any fundraising ideas please let me know! Most importantly please keep all the orphans in the world in your thoughts and prayers. All they want is a family.

HOW COOL IS THIS???

2010-11-22T18:14:00.005-06:00

Thanks Julia!

Family in NEED!!!

2010-11-16T15:39:00.002-06:00

My friend Leah is leaving in 12 days to go get her son Axel from Eastern Europe. One problem. She is short the last remaining funds needed! Please, please spread the word or better yet donate to their chip in. http://myianna.blogspot.com/ Every little bit counts and adds up! Axel is 10 years old and has Down syndrome. He has waited far to long for his family! I would hate for money to be the only thing that stands in the way of him getting home.......to Minnesota no less!!!!

Brady and Heath

2010-11-06T23:03:00.012-05:00

Brady

Heath

This is Brady and Heath. They live in an institution in Eastern Europe. They need for their forever family to go get them out and bring them home.
Brady has a special place in my heart for a few reasons. We already committed to Dani and Josh but knew we had room for one more. I knew I wanted one of the older children since time was limited for them in the baby house. It was either Luke or Brady. Luke was then moved on RR site to the older children category and was about 1/2 of year older than Brady so we chose Luke hoping and praying Brady would have that much more time for his forever family to find him. It did not work out that way though.
You can go to http://www.covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/ to read more about Heath and Brady from a family who visited these boys while they were adopting a sweet little boy themselves from this institute.
Please help spread the word! I KNOW their family is out there.

Tori

2010-10-15T20:52:00.000-05:00

There is a little girl who used to be in the same orphanage as our Denis. She is no longer there. She has been transferred. Please go to Jewels in My Crown http://www.psalmsixtyeight.blogspot.com/ and donate! Every dollar will help a family bring her home!

Tori.

End of One Book..........The Beginning of Another

2010-08-21T18:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry for such a long break but it was CRAZINESS getting home! One HUGE suggestion for all of you going through this is to READ your handbook from RR!!! In all of our previous adoptions we always used a credit card to pay at the embassy. Well, Ukraine does not take credit cards. Oops! Okay, big Oops!!! I was willing to stay another month if need be just to get things done. Never once in this blog did I complain about my time away from home. I told myself that I would not count the days I was away from my kids like I did when in adopting from South America. I told myself that I would be on a mission to bring these kids home no matter how long it took and until this very moment I have not counted the days I was gone. Seriously, I just counted them now. 2 months or 57 days or 1368 hours. We knew it would be long and that is why we never complained about it. It was so worth it!!!! Hard on the kids back home though. Its a long time not to have mom and tata around.
It cost us a total of 46,381.62. Again, never once on this blog did I complain about how much it was costing just the WHY it was costing!!! We knew it would be lots of money to bring four kids home from two different regions. I was trying to let families know through our experience the "cost" of things that come up. We were down to eating one meal a day. We took buses and trolleys or walked. Like it or not, agree with it or not, offended by it or not........it was and is the TRUTH!!! We know the exact amount because we requested and kept EVERY receipt for EVERYTHING. Even if written out on a napkin, we got a receipt.
This is what it took for us to get home.

These are just to get home! When I say it was crazy, I mean it was CRAZY. The plane was late leaving Ukraine and we were worried about missing our flight home once arriving at JFK. All the kids did GREAT on the flight. No problems what so ever. The flight attendant started asking us questions on the kids and we were happy to answer anything she asked. She was so helpful with all of them which is one reason it went so well. Throughout the long flight she found out some of the things we went through and how long we have been gone. She kept telling me that she had to do something for us. I told her to knock it off (that's how I talk) that she had to do nothing for us. I told her it was very nice that she thought this but there is no reason. Once we landed and got into the terminal Ken showed me a napkin that was folded up. I opened it to 60 dollars and a note written on the napkin that read: This is all I had in my purse. You are an amazing couple for saving these children. God Bless. How sweet was that???? After landing we also found out that we missed our flight home. With no money, except the 60 dollars from the flight attendant, we decided to stay in the world lounge at the airport. Ken travels a lot for work so one of the perks he has is being able to go into a lounge area away from the hustle and bustle of the airport. They have TV's computers, free food and drinks, bathrooms right there. It was a great place to sit and relax.
Ken went to go see if we could get on stand by for some flights home. He managed to get us on a flight but once we were at the gate and dealing with other ticket agents we started running into problems. The screen on the wall shows you if you are on a stand by list. It then shows you the names that made it on the plane. Well it said we should be on the plane but the ticket agents were letting all the other stand by folks on. They asked if it would be okay for them to separate us. We said we don't care where we sit just get us home! After letting a few more stand by folks on they asked us what four people wanted to get on. WHAT, when you said separate us we thought you meant seating not planes!!!! Back to the front ticket agent we went. Only flight available was for the next morning. While Ken and I were doing all of this, Roc stayed with the kids by our gate. She struck up a conversation with a couple who just returned from Ireland. Our friend just returned from Ireland so Roc was asking lots of questions about their trip. They then started talking about how we missed our flight and they messed up with getting us on stand by. They kept asking us if Delta gave us food vouchers or set us up a place to stay that night. Roc told them no they offered us nothing but that we could go to the World Lounge to eat. When Ken and I returned Roc handed us a piece of paper all folded up. I asked her what it was and she told us about the couple and that they said give this to your mom and not to open it until they had left. I opened it up and it was 12 dollars in food vouchers wrapped around a hundred dollar bill!!!!!! I said ROC, What it the world did you tell them!!! Roc said they were just talking about their trip and our trip. How they thought the kids were so cute and that Delta should really help you out since it was not our fault for missing the flight. It was then and only then that I lost it. The kindness of some people. The lack of sleep. The stress of the last few days. The stress of the last few months. It all just started pouring out. We went back to the lounge to figure out if 160 dollars would get us a place to stay and a ride there and back the next morning. It was now 11:00pm and Luke started getting restless. A new crew came on working at the lounge. Two women working at the front desk saw us sitting there and asked Ken to come over. Don't know what went on but all of the sudden one of the ladies came over with stacks of cookies and was putting them in my bag. She started getting us all up and moving along with Ken and told us she got us a hotel for the night. She gave us food vouchers and some juice and was shoving it all into my bag. I was just so exhausted by this time I really did not know what was going on. I just went with it. She kept telling us that someone should have done something sooner and how sorry she was. She said we all needed a good night sleep and things would be better in the morning.
I did not tell the kids we were coming home because I kept telling them dates before and it always fell through. We decided to stop telling them when we thought we might be home and just show up when we show up. And that's just what we did. We got home around 6:00 Sunday night July 18th. I don't know who was happier, us or the kids or grandpa!!!! He got to go home!
Okay, I know it is getting long but now I have to tell you how the kids, both new and old, are doing.
Dani: She hates it when anyone of us leave for any reason. Groceries, work, school, mow the yard, anything. She cries and cries and wants us all to be together. It has gotten much better and with all the other kids here showing her how it all works has helped tremendously. I am not quite sure how she is going to handle it when everyone leaves to go to school?!?! She has picked up on many words but continues to talk and talk and talk to us in her little husky Russian voice thinking we know what she is saying. She LOVES to boss and sing. She loves to change cloths at least 15 times a day. She loves to fix her hair and carry purses. She loves getting her own water from the fridge. She loves the trampoline and playing outside with her brother and sisters. She HATES naps, going to bed at night, not being included, hard shell tacos, having ANY door closed and thunder. She has a all day doctor appt. next month where afterwards all the doctors will get together to decide the best action to take. She had parasites, lacks in vitamin D and Calcium but has no problem taking medication to fix all of these. She loves her new brothers and sisters but absolutely ADORES Charley!!!

Josh: Josh loves everything except when you take his hands out of his mouth. Then he tends to get cranky and whine for about 3 minutes. He loves to rough house with his brothers and sisters, watch TV, sing, play the piano or keyboard, water, chew on EVERYTHING and our animals. He follows the cats around and wants to do whatever they do. He is a happy, happy little boy and very smart. He will need surgery for his cleft palate. I guess after surgery he wont be able to do his trick for the boys anymore! YUCK!! Charley and James get a real kick out of this. Ken says we know when he is full because he has a "full indicator". Its when the food starts coming out of his nose!! Another huge YUCK!! But again, Charley and James love his full indicator!! He will be having some hormone tests to see if we need to do anything about his growth as well as all the other tests.

Luke: Ahhh, Luke. Luke loves his family. he loves it when we shake his arms up and down, yogurt, oatmeal., blended up tacos, music, hair, strings, sitting on our laps, the animals, the dogs licking his face or toes, sleeping in mom and tatas room and being around us. He hates water, taking naps, going to bed at night, having to try new things be it food or play and is very stubborn. We were told both Josh and Luke did not feed themselves and were not potty trained. First day home we gave them a spoon and they both started to feed themselves. It gets really, really messy but who cares? They are doing it!!! And the dogs love all the extra food that falls on the ground!!! We started potty training and it is actually going pretty well. Luke is healthy besides the parasites. But those are all gone now and they want to see him again in 6 months.

Denis: Our little 15 pound 4 1/2 year old. Denis loves to suck his finger, eat, get thrown up in the air, music, playing with his mobile while he is supposed to be napping, being held by EVERY member of the family and petting the dogs with his feet while laying in mama and tatas bed. He hates dogs licking his feet, being fed with a spoon, anything cold, loud noises and baths. He has learned to hold his own bottle, cry when he has a wet diaper or is hungry. He babbles and makes many more noises than we ever heard before coming from him!!! He has had and will continue to have MANY doctor appointments. He lacks in vitamin D and calcium along with the parasites. He needs surgery for pulmonary heart problems and a hole in his heart. The surgery to fix both of these things will be done at one time. He is still having more tests done before surgery to make sure they know everything they can about his health. I'm talking every kind of test you could think of. From simple blood work to MRI's. Here is a photo of him looking a a families blog about himself. Can you guess who's blog it is??? It is a blog from a mama that loved him VERY much! http://ridinthewavewithulord.blogspot.com/

The other kids were very excited to see four new faces walk through the door on July 18th. They were hesitant with Luke for about two days, thought Josh was the best thing since sliced bread, LOVES Denis and acts like Dani has been here forever! The only real difference mom has noticed is feeding this crew and NEVER having a clean bowl!!!!

We were just talking today about what we missed most about Ukraine. We unanimously answered, Toby!!!! hahahahah!
I want to thank all of you who have prayed for our four new Ukrainians! Even before they were part of our family. Those of you who have followed along on our journey, and sent well wishes and prayers. Those of you who donated money or things for our garage sales. We are glad to be home!

Today Is The Day!

2010-07-06T23:45:00.000-05:00

In about 1 1/2 hours we leave for the last bit of paperwork. In about 3 hours I hope to be walking Denis down the long driveway into a taxi to his home away from home. He has 4 brothers and sisters waiting to meet him!! Little does he know he has 5 more at his forever home.
Our day to pick up the three kids in Odessa was Tuesday the 29th of June. Things didnt go that way and we were not allowed to pick up the kids until July 5th!!! Then we were told they only had a midnight train back to Simferopol which would put us a day behind getting Denis. So we said no thanks to that and rented a car so that we would be here in Simferopol by Tuesday the 6th, EARLY enough to make the day count!!!
The kids did great considering we just picked them up from the only home they have ever known and put them in a car and drove for 7 hours!!! Ken had just returned from London where he spent the week working. His job needed him so Roc and I assured him we would be fine and to just go. So he was all set to drive the 7 hours. The rest of us though were pretty exhausted from the week, which I will blog about later, so we all ended up just sitting back and relaxing. Dani started to cry at one point so we pulled over for her to go to the bathroom - must be the mother in me that knew that one?!
About 15 min later she started to cry again, this time the mother in me didnt get it! Called Jolene and David to have them talk with her to see what was wrong. All we saw was her shaking her head yes to everthing. Found out she had a tummy ache. Gave her a little motion sickness medicine and within 1/2 hour she was fine!!
I love the drive between the two cities. It is beautiful! I often think what it would be like to live at some of the places we drive through. Some of the stuff we talk about on the long drive is where we would live if we were in Ukraine for good. I found 2 spots that I could live at. One in a city and one in a village. Now to decide which one I like better?!
At around 10:30pm we knew we still had another hours worth of driving so we started working on a place to stay once we got there. Then about 30 min out of town a dog came shooting across the highway (well I call it a highway) at Ken hit it! I of course being a animal lover started crying. The dog actually came from I dont know. It all went so fast. Back home I think to myself how someone could hit a deer. We have lots of dead deer on the side of the road. I think how someone could hit any animal. I have been driving for many, many, MANY years and have never hit an animal. Well thats not true. Once up at my dads we were driving and I hit something, not sure what it was but I hit him. I of course being who I am started to cry. My dad was telling me it was a gopher or mouse or something and it was really no big deal. Didnt help, I still killed it. My poor dad must think sometimes where in the world I came from!!! hehehehe
Anyway, I was crying, Ken was knowing what I was going through so said nothing and felt bad. Not for hitting the dog but for me!! And then there was my girl Roc who tried telling me that we just hit a pot hole or something. Love that girl!!! I told her no, it was a dog. It also gave me the chance to explaine and show her how fast things can happen. She is 15 and going to start driving soon and I wanted her to know and see these things. Both Ken and I have been in terrible car accidents. The one I was in my best friend died. She was driving and hit a patch of ice or something and we hit a tree, going pretty fast. Through this hitting the dog accident it gave us a great opportunity to talk with Roc about how fast things can happen even when you are doing everything right. So one could only imagine what could happen if you were on the phone or NOT paying attention. And of course we had this conversation through my sobs for the poor dog!!! Ken told us the next day after looking at the damage to the car, it was a big dog, that this trip/adoption has cost him WAY TO much money because of all his dog problems!!!!
Okay, I guess we are getting ready to go. One last thing though. We spent the evening with Toby McDonald. He brought us to this great place to try their chicken!! YUM!!! It was so nice just to be with someone who is going through the same thing!!! In more ways than one but that is for another blog!! I will write later today about our night out with Mr. Toby!!! He is something that is for sure!!!
Also post some photos for everyone!

A Bunch of Chapters........lost count!

2010-06-27T14:04:00.000-05:00

I know, I know.........We had court for Denis last Wednesday and it went without a hitch. After court we went on one more visit with our boy and then headed for the train station to come back to Odessa to do the last of the paperwork for our three kids here and then pick them up!! On Sunday we will take the train back and finish up Denis's paperwork. While Ken is doing the running I will be going to the orphanage to take Denis OUT of the orphanage! We have been here 5 weeks already but it doesnt really feel like it. We have been busy running from place to place and from region to region that truly the days just fly by. On our down days we visit with the kids and try to take in as much as the Ukrainian culture as we can. We have met some of the most amazing people here and we love to just sit and talk with them. The only hard part for me has been seeing all these kids longing for a family! We were going to fly home after court and come back when Denis's 10 day wait was up but when we called home to talk it over with the kids they were very upset and some even cried that we would come home without the four new additions!! Guess they dont miss mom to much!! hehehehe!! So we have decided to just continue on and stay until ALL 7 of us can come home together!! Thank you for your continued support, well wishes and prayers!!!! We really appreciate them!

Chapter 14 - Just how much can you do in a few days???

2010-06-16T14:34:00.000-05:00

Our original plan was to rent a car and leave at noon to Odessa. The train would have cost us 100 dollars each way. The rental car cost 50 dollars a day plus gas. Since there was not much difference in price, we chose the rental car. The taxi dropped Roc and myself off at the orphange and dropped Ken off at the airport to get the car. We requested a GPS to help us and when got to the airport they had some good news and some bad. The bad news was she didn't know how to work the GPS and Ken couldn't because it was all in Russian! The good news however was since he was one of their best customers they were going to give him a map of all Ukraine! We couldn't read any of it!!!! So after calling our new friend David Sloan to help us, he and Ken sat there for a couple of hours getting it to work. Roc and I walked to a pizza place we found to wait for Ken to pick us up. Before we left Roc grabbed 50rph and Ken said that should be plenty of money. So we ordered a "pepperoni" pizza and two cokes. The waiter spoke a little english and they had pictures!!! We sat there for about 1 1/2 hours because Ken told us to take our time. Then the waiter brought the check and when Roc opened it up I just looked at her face and started laughing!!! I knew by the expresion on her face that it was MORE than the 50rph she had brought. I asked her what the matter was and she said its 62rph. We called Ken, who was no where close to being finished, and he asked if we had any coke left and to just drink it slow!!! I was laughing and Roc was trying to figure out the bill. The poor waiter came over because he saw Roc looking at the bill and calling on the phone and asked us if we needed help. He said that it was around 8 American dollars. Roc said she knew and asked can we could just sit here for a little bit??? This made me laugh even harder. I told her we could sit here all day if we wanted and not to worry because tata would be here soon.
Once he and David, okay, David, got the GPS working we were on our way to Odessa. It was now 4:30 and we knew it would take at least 6 hours. We really didn't want to be driving in the dark but we decided we better leave and not wait for the morning because we had to be in court at 5.
I am so glad we decided to drive. It was so neat to see how people live outside the city. The beautiful landscape. The farmers and how they farm. It was great! We were warned about the police and how they just wave you to pull over, but the drivers flash their headlights at you to warn you that police are ahead.

Okay, so the roads were BUMPY and you ALWAYS have to pass a truck or slow car, and I mean slow, and we couldn't read ANY of the signs but we had GPS and maps so it worked out really well. Until we stopped for gas! Our GPS didnt really have any arrows to show us where to go. Say what???? Okay, we still had our Ukraine map right?
So we made it to Odessa but now we had to get to our hotel, through the city, with all those streets, with no GPS and it was dark.
Guess what? Some how we made it finally to a landmark........McDonalds!!! Yeah, we knew were we were! It was actually better we arrive after 10 because even though the traffic was busy, it was by no way as busy as we have seen it during the day!
We visited the kids the next morning and they all rememberd us and we had a fun two hours! Court the next day was at 5 and we were told to be ready at 4. We were picked up and dropped our interpeter off at her house, the lady from the orphanage at her house to pick something up and then to the courthouse. Our interpeter met up with us at the courthouse. We went through what we would be asked, how long it would take and who would all be in the room with us. At about 10 after 5 we were called into a litte room where the judge, clerk, two witnesses, procecuter, spokeswomen from the orphanage, spokeswomen from the childrens welfare office, Roc, me, Ken and our interpeter! It was going to begin so they turned the fan OFF! Why? Have no idea! It was so hot and crowded it was rediculas! We thought it was funny and everyone got a kick when the lady from the orphanage said yes we were a good fit for these kids and that Roc was such entertainment for all the orphanage kids and staff and that she would make a wonderful sister!!! After standing and sitting for an hour answering questions it was done. The only part I got tears in my eyes is when they came to Dani's story. She was abandoned. Not in a hospital or orphanage, just left where someone found her. Okay, and the part where they said no one wanted these children made me cry too!
After messing with the GPS we got it working again and headed back to Simferpol. It took a little longer because we stopped off on the side of the road where they were selling things. We bought a small basket at one and yummy cherries at another. People sell a lot of cherries along side the road, about every 1/2 block for a mile or two. Oh, and we were stopped by the police! Yup, they waved us to pull over. We were not speeding so we were not sure what was up. He came over and started talking to us and Ken just said I dont understand. He kept talking and finally Ken said english. He looked at me like I could/would talk to him and I just said, english. He then started talking to us some more and what we thought he wanted was proof we owned the car. We got our translator from Odessa on the phone and we were right, he wanted proof it was our car or proof we had rented it. We showed him the papers and he let us go on. We have been told we were lucky bacause they can make you pay for anything as silly as low air in the tires!!! Hey, when we do something, we go all out to get the true experience of it ALL!!!

On Wednesday morning we headed for the Sloans to meet them and drop off some stuff for the orphanage that they work with. That was quite the trip on getting there! David met us at an intersection to bring us to his and Joleen's home. It was beautiful and their kids are awesome!!! We talked and the Joleen, me and the kids played a game and then they invited us to lunch. We went to a yummy pizza place! On the drive to the restaurant their kids asked if they could go with us. Having Roc, Davey, Nate and Brianna in the back seat and listening to them laugh and talk made me miss home so much! I got to kid around with them, ask them silly questions and hear silly answers! It was the highlight of my day!!!! I miss my kids back home something awfull after that ride.

David didn't want to be in the picture because he knew both Joleen and I were going to put it on our blog!!! So he took the pictures! I hate pictures too but I thought I would put it on here for Lyndi!!!!!!

After lunch we headed for our visit with Dennis where we met up with the McDonald's and TJ (Misha)! They are so nice and TJ is so sweet!!! Here he is dancing with his daddy!

And here, once again, are all of us just for Lyndi!!!!!

On the way out of the orphanage today we saw some kids outside playing with a few caretakers. I asked Roc if she wanted to run the cherries that we bought over to them to see if the kids could have them. They were surprised and happy and all the kids came running over to get some! It was a fun few days and very exhausting!!! I would do it all again in a heart beat!!!!

Chapter 13 - Three New Fritz's

2010-06-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

YEA............They'll Fit Right In!!!!!!

Should be a fun plane ride home!

I'll blog more in chapter 14 about our drive to Odessa and how court went. I am tired from the long drive to Odessa and back. I fell asleep last night or I would have done it then. Sorry about that Jodi!

Chapter 11 & 12............Its All About Denis!!!!

2010-06-11T08:12:00.009-05:00

Here are pictures before I even write one more thing!

He is very, very little!! His cute little tiny hand! We were all surprised on just how little he is. The first day here was such a rush of activity that we forgot our camera!!! We have some photos on our phone but thanks to Jodi, Ken won't go buy me one so I still have no cord to get those onto the computer. So all of these pictures are from yesterday and today. The first day when we walked in they handed Denis to me and 5 min later came out with two bottles. One with mushed up food and the other with juice, both warm. They just handed them to me and left. So I got to feed him within ten minutes of meeting him!!! Denis was running a fever yesterday so we were given the names of some medicine to get for him and thankfully our missionary friends who live here and they were able to help us out! They talked to the doctor for us and ran and got the medicine. These are the people I got in contact with before we even got here. I was worried about Denis being transferred and I knew that Yulia and Serge were to busy to call down here to ask for him not to be transferred because we were coming for him. I didnt want to blog any of this before but I am now. I contacted them and asked them if they would go and talk to the director for us. The reason I knew they would keep him there for us is because of this BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL LETTER we receieved on the morning of April 12!!!!
Hello family!
Today some missionaries came to see me. They came into my room, but were not allowed to hold me. But, I saw them looking at me and smiling, and I saw hope in their faces.
These missionaries had a nice, long chat with the orphanage director and learned a lot of things about the process of adoptions and such here. They learned that the orphanage director really has nothing to do with the adoptions, the selection, or any of the process. All of this is done in the capital city, Kiev. They weren’t even allowed to take my picture, although they asked very nicely. They were told that it is against the law for the children to be photographed and “individualized.” Only the people in Kiev are allowed to have a picture of me and see my information.
The missionaries came to my orphanage because they wanted to ask the director if he would hold me a little longer in this orphanage… so I could be adopted by you. The orphanage director said he remembered that they were keeping me for a few extra weeks, but that my time was up and my papers for moving had been processed. But, I also heard him tell someone on the phone that they would wait. So, I am going to stay here and wait for you.
But, beginning May 1st, my country has a lot of back-to-back holidays. All of the government offices will be closed most of the days the first two weeks of the month. The orphanage director said you need to go ahead and come and try to get your work in Kiev done before May 1st if you can. When their offices open back up, they will be very, very busy catching up from those holidays.
The director could not understand, though, why there is such a big rush about adopting before the age of 4. He said that all kids here who are orphans can be adopted. He said that even though we are moved, we can still be adopted. If for some reason I have to be moved, please do not worry about me. They will know where I am moved and you can still get me!
The director said that no one would adopt me because I am very small, but the missionaries told him that there is a family who has already chosen me. He could not understand why people would chose to adopt children who have such serious medical conditions such as me. I am so glad that you love me anyways! I may be small, but I have a BIG heart!
Well, I had better go now. I can hardly wait to see you and have you hold me, love me, kiss me, and take me home with you!
Yours truly,
Dennis
P.S. Here is the missionary husband’s cell phone number: -------He said you should call him as soon as possible and he will do everything he can to help you. His name is ---------, and he is a very nice man! He has the orphanage director’s personal phone number and the orphanage director has his as well.

They did not have to take time out of their busy lives for some person they have never met! For this I will ALWAYS be greatful to them!!! I took their names and number out because I have not asked for their permission to post that sort of information! They have been a true blessing!!!! We will finally get to meet tomorrow, face to face!
We brought 6 pieces of luggage and 5 is for donations to orphanages. I guess this has caused some "inconvience" for some of the people here! We had SO much luggage we were told!
I felt like strangling the people that complained about it!!!! It did not bother us ONE BIT about the dissatisfaction of others!!
The flat where we are staying at is 37.00 a night for those of you on your way to this region. Food is cheap as are the taxi rides to the orphanage. It is to far for us to walk and no trolley here. Train ride down here was around 110.00. That was for a sleeper car 4 people. If you buy for 4 people, then you dont have to share with strangers. It holds four people. The orphanage director here is Wonderful! Very nice man! The place is HUGE and there are A LOT of kids living here. They wont let us into any rooms like the orphanage in Odessa. We really see no kids up on the second floor. We sit on a little couch and wait for them to bring Denis to us. In Odessa we could pretty much go and do what we wanted! It was a much smaller orphanage.
We got to see the Godwins again today and meet their little beauty!!!
Kristies sister Megan, who is 14, came along to help out. Kristie comes from a family of 14 adopted and 4 bio kids. When they get home her parents are headed to adopt number 15!!! How cool is that??
Roxana is a little nervous around Denis. She is used to playing kind of rough with the kids, which they love, but she is a little scared she will drop Denis! To cute! We tell her that he won't break and that it is okay! We just never had anyone so little living in our house!!! EVER!!!
It only took about 15 min to teach Denis what a kiss was, he loved it and wanted to kiss us the rest of the visit!
So I will leave you with one of the sweetest giggles I have ever heard! It is PURE JOY!!!!!

Chapter 10 - Trains, Trains,Trains!

2010-06-08T02:09:00.000-05:00

We arrived in Kiev around 8:30am. We went to our flat to unload and then straight to the SDA. We followed Serge straight upstairs got the referrel for Dennis and swapped out all of the other photos as well with the ones the SDA had. Much, MUCH more quiet and only around 10 minuetes! We talked with Serge for only a little while because he had to catch a plane. Serge talked to ken about the dog bite and said he didnt need to go to London they have that stuff here to take care of. We really didnt want to tell Serge what Russia and London were saying about Ukraine medicine. Also what the young man who drove Ken to the clinic, who spoke english, said. In fact this young man spent a few years in the US. Serge told us that everyone in Ukraine knows about Ken. Now I'm not sure if thats because of the dog bite or because Ken travels allot for work and always needs to know where the money is going, so he questions why they always need more money from us after paying 1/2 of what we owe for all four kids? The other 1/2 is being paid after each court date. A little thing came up right before we boarded the train from Odessa to Kiev where they wanted 650 more griva which is about 80 US dollars. Not for the train ticket and not for the driver we understand all of that. It was for the running they did one day to get a paper we needed!? So Ken was just confused why this wasn't included in the fee we payed Serge. No one could really explaine it but we had to catch our train so we just paid it. We told them that they have to tell us before we only have 10 minuets to leave and they also have to tell families this right away if they owe money and what it is for not days later!
The same thing happend with our flat in Odessa, right when we are ready to leave they want more money! It was only a couple of bucks but when you are living on peanut butter sandwhiches and walking and taking the trolley, that couple of bucks IS SO much more than you would think! Don't be afraid to ASK the whats and whys!
The SDA was going to give us the referral for Dennis the same day so we came back at 4 to pick it up. By 5 we were told that the head lady was in a meeting at no one was sure if she would be back in time to sign the papers. It was us and 3 other families. Six came around and we were all told to go home it wasnt going to happen. So now we are waiting to get a call to go get the referral and then to the train for the 15 hour ride to meet Dennis! We did ask about renting a car because we have so much traveling to do between the two regions. We have to go down to Dennis then back to Odessa for court on Monday, then Dennis, then pick up kids, then Dennis, then Kiev. They thought we were Crazy!!! We had different facilitators and drivers all gathered around us saying No, No, No. Okay, we were just trying to save a buck but if everyone is so against it I guess the train it will be! We can't wait to meet Dennis and see what he is like! Hope he is happy with who was picked to be his family!!!!

Chapter 9 - Starting All Over

2010-06-06T07:35:00.000-05:00

We leave tonight for Kiev so another 8 hour train ride to look forward to. We start all over again for our boy Dennis! We had our last visit with the kids and said our goodbyes. None of them understood. Dania thinks we are just people that come to visit. Thats okay though, she will get it soon enough! They all will!!
Ken returned from London on Saturday. He had 7 shots injected right into where the dog bit him. Then he had another shot in his arm. They gave him the rest of the medicine for someone here to give him. It has to stay cool so we came up with a way to do just that with all the traveling we are doing. We bought a little lunch box type cooler and then filled two water bottles full of water and froze them. Put the frozen bottles and medicine in the cooler and there ya have it.
Before we left we wanted to get a picture of the motley crew that did this to Ken. I know, call us nuts but you really want to get a picture of what could have killed you. So we started down the street again. This time I WAS thinking and told Ken that since he had the vaccine now and can't get rabies he should go get the picture himself! He agreed and walked till we couldnt see him anymore. A few minuites later out comes Ken running like he had just seen a ghost!! He got back to us and we asked did you get it, did you get it! He said yup I got the picture of those vicious dogs and I know it was them because I will never forget what they looked like! Here it is. We are very sure it was the BIG white one with the brown spot that did all the damage!!

Hehehehe!!! How CUTE are they! Do you really think we would go BACK????? No way, not even close!!

These are the puppies that live right accross from the orphanage. I wanted to take one home but Ken says no way! Hes such a party pooper! They have a dog that lives inside the gates of the orphanage so the kids are all aware of what a dog is. That helps us since we have 3 waiting for us to get home.

Here are some more pictures of three of the cutest kids ever.

Okay, four of the cutest kids EVER!!!!

Chapter 8 - It aint all about the KIDS!

2010-06-03T07:26:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night we ran out of min for internet. We tried all night trying to get min put on but it didnt happen. Wednesday morning Ken went back down to where we bought it to see if they could help. They gave him a special password to log in with and now we had to wait 24 hours to actually log in and have everything up and running. That morning I woke up 3 different times to the dogs outside barking. Once at midnight, then at 2 and then again at 4:30. I decided to yell from my 7th floor window to shush up and they looked around like who the heck is telling me to shush?? It worked though! I sat and watched them for the next 1/2 hour or so. As I was watching them and the people trying to get by them without being totally attached I thought to myself, why in the world would you keep taking the same route to work or where ever you are going? Why walk that way if you have to beat these dogs away from you?
We all got ready to head on down to the administration office again because our papers were ready to be signed for us to get a court date. Our driver/helper for the day was a lady that helped us once before and she seemed very nice. We got stuck in traffic and arrived 25 min late and the administration was yelling at us. Well it all sounds like yelling to me, probably isnt! We signed the papers and headed for the teeny tiny elevator. Now remember, one of the reasons I hate trains, planes and automobiles isnt all about the motion. Its being in teeny tiny places!!!! So we just about get to floor 1 and you guessed it it stopped!!!! Come to find out I'm not the only one that hates teeny tiny places. Our helper started to freak out which by no means helped me!!!! She speaks very little english and I begged her to please stop, it wasnt helping me at all! Poor Ken and Roc! We pushed the button a couple times but it didnt work. The worker started praying when someone (cant even remember) pushed floor 4. Thank goodness it started moving and the worker and I pushed Roc and Ken to the side just to get out! Poor Ken and Roc!
She then drove us to the orphanage where we had a REALLY great visit! Luke was first to come walking out with a caretaker. I started to walk towards them when all of the sudden Luke looked at me, pulled away from the worker and started running to me!!!! The worker was surprised by this! She couldnt believe it! He was so happy that day, laughing and playing with us. And to think, this was the little boy I wasnt sure about just 6 days prior! The little boy that I wasnt sure would ever like me. The little boy that I didnt think I could handle! The little boy that some how some way worked his way into my heart for me to love the rest of my days on this earth! Thank you God!
Josh and Dani were being Josh and Dani and we all had fund playing with bubbles and balloons and on the swing set!
We decided to walk and take the trolley home since it kills time and we get to see the sites. We learned how the trolley works by hit or miss. The first time it was a little old lady driving and when she came to her stop she just looked at us like what are you still doing on my trolley? She started talking to us but I stopped her and said english. She was so excited that she started talking even more to us! Okay? She then tried the best she could to tell us how it works and what trolley number we need next. She did a great job and we now got it! She shook kens hand and just kept talking to us. To cute!
So it is now around 8 at night but still light out. We were close to our flat and we could see our 20 story building from where we were. We thought we would take the back way in to save us a few blocks of walking and to beat the dark. As we started walking it became quite, not as many people around. Ken said we should be coming up to the garages that we see from our window. I said you mean where all the dogs hang out and bark? Yup, there was the one dog, a german shepard, that I had just that morning yelled at. Walked by him a little further and I looked up to my left and there was one big dog at the top of some steps. As I looked forward again I saw two dogs looking at me and they began to bark. I turned to look to see where the big boy was and he was on his way down the steps with a mission in his eyes. I yelled, OH OH!!! It all happened so fast. Ken told us to just stop but I didnt hear him and kept walking. Roc yelled for me to stop and as I turned around Ken was trying to keep 4 dogs off of him. Roc was behind him. I walked back to them and now it was more like 7 dogs surrounding us! A little scared doesnt even begin to explain what I was feeling!!!! Ken told us to walk slowly back. I was pushing Roc ahead of me thinking if I could get her far enough ahead of me she could then run and I could turn around to help Ken. He usually has a pop bottle in his back pocket just have as a "weapon" per say. On our long walk home Roc and I unfortunately threw them away so we wouldnt have to carry them! oopsy!! (the dogs are barking as I type this) He finally turned around and stomped his feet to scare them and it worked. Plus the fact that we were walking out of their territory! Once we got far enough away Ken told us that he had gotten bit. I said I know because I saw the two dogs biting him. I looked at his jeans and saw that he had holes in them from where he was bit. I knew it wasnt good and Roc started to worry. She was asking if they had their rabies shot and if it was just a little bite then that would be okay then right? I told her that these dogs dont get shots like ours at home and that we would have to go to the hospital if once we got home and it didnt look good. Ken and I both started to lighten the mood as to not make her so worried. Ken was joking with her by asking her if he had foam coming out of his mouth! She kept asking do you feel okay, are you alright. Then I looked at him and was a little worried, this is what I saw.................

Should I be worried???????

I know, its nothing to joke about!

Ken has a benefit working at 3M that if he gets hurt anywhere outside the US they will help him. So he called the SOS number and asked what he should do. They told him that he needs to get to a hospital for antibiotics and also they would fly him to London to get the rabie shots and vaccine. After being on the phone with them for close to 2 hours trying to work this all out we found out the London was the closest place that had the vaccine. He went to the hospital where they didnt want to do anything because they didnt want to be responsible. They didnt have what he needed and told him he HAD to go get medicine for it because they already had 3 people die from dog bites that didnt do anything. He has to get the shots within the first 72 hours. Then another 3 days later, and another 7 days later. Hopefully they will give him the medicine to bring back with him on his first visit!! You know he just had to up Jodi one with her little tooth episode while she was here!!!!

So the plan is for Ken to leave tomorrow morning and return tomorrow evening. Lets hope everything works out that way! We leave Sunday to start Dennis's adoption!

Keep us in your prayers - It looks like we need them!!!!!

And yes, I still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dogs. We were just at the wrong place at the wrong time!

No Chapter - Just for Kim

2010-06-01T11:14:00.000-05:00

Hey Kim! Send me your email - work or home!!!!!
knucklemoe@comcast.net
thanks!!!
Can you believe I miss work!?!?! Well just a niminoga(sp?) means little in Ukraine! hehehehe

Chapter 7 - National Childrens Day

2010-06-01T08:12:00.000-05:00

It is national childrens day today and they had a cute program at the orphanage. We thought we would be leaving to start the other adoption but that wont happen until tomorrow. Well thats than plan today anyway, things always change around here! Our meeting with the head administrator went fine. It only took about 20 min. And guess who over 5 min went to???? Roc! She asked Roc how long she has been with us, what she studies in school, what she wants to be and what she thinks about more brothers and sisters. Roxana did very well!! Asked us why we wanted to adopt DS children, if we have money for Dani surgery and if we will be doing that surgery right away. She came right out and asked if we get paid for having Luke and Josh live with us. No beating around the bush for her!!
After the program was over at the orphanage we decided to just walk around. The day before we walked down to the Black Sea and Roc went swimming for awhile. Today we just started walking and after about 2 hours we thought we would try the trolly. We got in, sat down and 5 min later a gal that works on the trolly said something to me and I just pointed to Ken!! Let him take care of that stuff!! lol!!! You can ride the trolly for 1 dollar a person to where ever you want. We got off the trolly and then decided we would try the bus. Hey why not? We have nothing better to do than to see what it is all about living here! We saw our flat coming up but didnt know how to tell the guy we wanted off. We watched how people were doing it and it seems like you tell him you want to stop in 2 blocks and then lay some money down on the seat next to him. So we drove by our flat and Ken just laid some money down and we were let off at the train station. We just decided to walk back to the flat from there. Stopped and picked up some water and juice and now we are home.
The program was really cute and the orphanage seems to be a really nice place for the kids. They were all dressed up in costumes and sang and danced. I even saw a bunch of RR kids in the play!!! Josh and Luke sat with some caretakers and watched the kids performe. They did really well just sitting there watching for 1/2 hour! Then all the kids got a toy when they were done! Very cute and fun for everyone.
We are pretty pooped out and I think it will be a very early night for us!

Chapter 6 - A Very Good Day!

2010-05-30T15:21:00.000-05:00

Today was a good day all the way around. We bought more minutes for the 3G modem so I can post some pictures! Our first visit with the kids went well and as you can see by the first two photos, Roc kept her word to herself. She played with not only our kids but ALL the kids. I think the caretaker LOVED it!!! Gave her a break. It started out by two little ones coming over to are little area where we were playing with our kids. They wanted to see us and what we all had in my big bag of GOODIES!!! Which by the way Dani LOVES to dig through! Then the caretaker came to get them but they really were not listening so Roc asked us if she could bring them back and play with all of them. We told her to go for it!

So here is Josh. Funny, loves to laugh, LOVES to climb, loves to chew! Poor thing has had two surgeries and still needs more. All on his cleft palate. Heart is healthy. He has some sort of chest deformity but not sure what they are talking about. It is hard to get things through translation and the quick go through files that they do. So obviously he will be checked once home with all the other kids. His look reminds me of a little old man and I just LOVE it. Ken and Roc think I'm crazy but I just think he is soooooo cute!!!

Diana, pronounced Deanna, is a sly, sneaky, precious, so cute and tiny! She is tinier than I thought she would be. She just didn't look that small on the RR site. She is LOUD!! She loves, loves, loves balloons and banana's! She thinks she can do anything without any help like pour water from a big water bottle to a little water bottle. Didn't work out so well for her. She also loves digging in my bag of fun stuff but always ends up with a balloon, or 10. She is very patient with Josh and Luke. She is in the same group as Josh so they get along well.

And now for Luke. He has changed so much just like all of you said! He loves to wrap are arms around him. It cannot be just one hand/arm, but BOTH. He loves to stomp and jump up and down. He really likes it when Roc brings him inside. The gentleman who sits and lets people in and out is very nice to us and told Roc that she is more than welcome to bring Luke in to play if she wants. Roc brings him inside to a room where no other kids are. In fact no kids have been in that building at all since we have been there. We think they use it for the plays and stuff that the kids put on. Anyway, she brings him in there to a room that has hardwood flooring. She stomps and dances all around him and he just laughs and giggles at her! While she is doing it he is clapping and having a ball. Then of course when she stops its his turn! He just stomps and smiles.

Luke also has some sort of deformed chest that they talked about? He does have heart issues that have to be checked and one of his kidneys is in the wrong place?

It took us a little longer with Luke but we can see it slowly happening.

We have are meeting with the head of the authorities to ask us the questions of why once again. This is, we think, the last piece of paper before we start with Dennis. Some confusion with Yulia and our facilitator down here but we will find out tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your advice, well wishes, hopes and prayers!!! We are not even half way through all this so keep them all coming!!! You don't know what it means to us! It helps so much!

Chapter 5

2010-05-30T00:06:00.000-05:00

I was up at 3:30 this morning and tried to do this post but things work a little different with this 3G thing I couldnt get to the net and I didnt want to wake ken up to ask! So now its 7:30 and we are getting ready to go to our first visit of the day with the kids. Thank you to EVERYONE that sent a comment!!! It really does help in some strange way being so far away from home and then getting suggestions, advice, good wishes and and annoying comments from Jodi. Truly it made my sleep that night so much better! Luke did much better the next day! Roc on the other hand, not so much. The caretaker can not bring all three kids back so Roc being Roc always wants to be the one to bring back on of them. This day they went to their rooms and she had Luke. About 4 steps from the top he stopped. He knew where he was going and he didnt want to go. Roc picked him up and brought him to his room. He would not let go of her. It took 5 caretakers to release his tiny little (strong) arms from Rocs neck. Then on the way back down the steps she walked through the room where the picture of Dani was taken on the RR site. The room was full of kids. All of them saw her and went running to her. One little boy was getting his hair cut and put his arm out and she grabbed it, held it and then hugged the little boy. When she came outside the gates where Ken and I were waiting for her I saw something was wrong and asked her what was the matter? First you have to know that the nick name Roc fits her to a tee. She is a tom boy. Nothing really dainty about her. Ken says she is like a bull in a china shop. She loves, loves, loves soccer and sports and is very good at them. She is very competitive and Wants and Loves to win. She has a strong will and determination so you dont see a lot of tears of sadness from her. She just picks herself up and moves on.
I asked her what was wrong and she BROKE down. Sobbing asking me why nobody comes for these kids. Nothing is wrong with ANY of them. They kept want me to touch them, hug them, pay some kind of attention to them and I almost started crying in front of them. I had to leave. I can't do that again. I can't see that again. I don't understand it.
What I told her is different than most people reading this blog believe. At least from what I have read on your blogs.
I told her that this is what makes it so hard for people like me. I dont believe God has Josh's or Luke's or for the matter He had your life planned. What I believe is that God gave us free will. My God did not pick Josh OVER Benjamin to find a family. That was all my doing, all of our doings. I let Benjamin down. We all let Benjamin down. My God did not want Benjamin sent to where he was sent. My God wants there to be NO orphans. But My God gave His people FREE WILL to change it. Thats what I told her. Then I said you know what Roc, you have to think of it as it not being about you but about the kids or whoever you may come in contact with during this journey. I found out about all this when I was 26. You get to find out about it when you are 15. You have 10 more years on me to make a change, some change. Today you made a change. You touched a little boy and hugged him. He felt it. He received it from you. He will hopefully remember it.......Its all about free will. What we chose and what we set aside so that we dont feel the pain or the saddness.
By the time our taxi ride was over to bring us home she said thats what I have to do. I have to do that everyday from hear on out. Talk with the kids, hug the kids, play with the kids. The caretakers didnt seem to mind me hugging that little boy so I'm just going to do it.
I knew when I was awoken at 3am that the events of the day hit her hard. She was having some kind of nightmare and screaming no, no, stop it. I just came out and laid beside her till she calmed down, never waking.
She is still sleeping now. I'm proud of her. I love her. I hope today is easier for her and that the 10 years extra I gave her from the age I was when I started making a change will benefit her as a person. I know it will benefit the kids she plans to touch in her life time.

Chapter 2,3 AND 4 UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

Finally INTERNET!!!! In Odessa it seems to be extremely difficult to get internet! We tried to get the landlord from the flat to get it for us, but can't. We tried McD's because we heard they have it, don't. We tried the big mall because we heard they have it, don't. We tried to find internet cafe, nada! We have to have internet not only to keep JODI updated but also because Ken is working from here and Roc is doing her homework from here. So Ken went on a quest to find a 3G internet. He found a young kid at the telephone shop by the train station who was selling them AND JACKPOT, he spoke some english! He got home, OMG I'm calling this place home??? Ken set it up and guess what? All in Rusian!! We tried for maybe 15 minutes and then decided time for another walk back to the store. This time Roc went with just to get out for some scenary. I stayed home, there I go again, to do laundry and dishes. When they got back, walla, internet! Success! Bingo! Yay! Ken said that he cant bring Roc anywhere anymore cuz she flirts with everyone........she came home with a bracelet. She got it from the 18yr old guy that sold us the 3G and helped us get it running.  She really wasn't flirting it's just how she is, VERY outgoing and we LOVE to give her a hard time!!!! Thats 1/2 the fun of being her parents!!!!
Because the 3G will cost us more if we upload photos I will have to wait till we are back in Kiev to do. I know, bummer!
Okay, we decided to take the train for more reasons than just my fear of Serge's driving. We would save money for one night not spent at our flat and also the money we had to pay Serge to get to Odessa. Roxana also really wanted to take the train.....Harry Potter fan. We packed up all our luggage because we had to be out by 1. We did not want to bring all luggage down to Odessa with us so we left some at our "teams" office till we get back for our second part of all this. We were told to be at the SDA to pick up our referral at 4. 4:30 and still waiting for someone, anyone. 4:45, still waiting. 4:55 Ken decides to just go get the referral himself since they close at 5. He saw the Directors right hand lady (the one he and Roc met in 2008). She smiled at Ken and asked another facilitator in the room if she could help us. They called us in and both the SDA and facilitator asked where Serge was? We said, good question! The facilitator that was helping us happened to know Serge, I think EVERYONE knows Serge!!!! She called him while we were filling out the paperwork to get our referral. Traffic was Horrible and that's why no one was there. We saw that there was 1 pack/referral left after ours and we figured out it was the Goodwins. By the time we were done the Goodwins drove up and we got to say a quick hello and good luck. We then drove to the train station to get the Goodwins there train tickets. No, they were not with us, they were in a taxi and we were with the "teams" driver so we met them there. We waited for awhile and then went to TGIF to eat and wait for Nico (driver) who is GREAT! Good guy! And of course he and Roc talk Spanish with each other because he was a Spanish translator in Cuba for the Soviet Union years ago. Again, he loved her! Good thing we brought her with!! She has been GREAT entertainment for everyone! She is such a good girl! I am glad she is seeing all of this for so many reasons. I know, I'm getting to the kids but that part is chapter 4 and I'm still in chapter 3!
We went at 9 to "get" our train tickets. There just "happened" to be 1 sleeper car left! What "luck"!?! It did not cost us any more, it just was the "last" one left. Okay, hope you get it........the team got us on the train!!!!
Ken and I both went to sleep right away but Roc ended up staing up all night just looking out the window enjoying her time.
Next morning got off the train, met our facilitator who brought us to our flat. In 2 hours we were to meet our new children.
We first had to go get the local referral at the administration office where the questions began. Why, Do we have room, Can we afford it, How many kids do we have now. We got there blessing and then we waited for them to type it up. We then had to go pick up a inspector to come with us to evaluate how we interacted with the kids. We arrived at the orphanage at around 11:30 and went through the kids files and were asked pretty much the same set of questions.
Then it was time. But before I start there are 2 things I want you to know.  First, Ken is the type of guy that knew nothing of DS except what a lot of people think. Thats not good or bad its just reality. Sad maybe, but its true. I'm going to be very honest here and he was very nervous and leary. I was scared too and it is so hard to explaine in words but I am the type of person that would take in every stray dog, cat, animal or ANY and EVERY man, woman or child that I could or maybe couldn't. I worry about the logistics, ramifications of everything AFTER the fact. Ken not at all like me!
We find out the Luke has more problems than we thought. He was deprived of oxygen and they had to do an emergency C Section on his mother.  It's the lack of oxygen that made Ken nervous.
They brought all three in together which was a bit overwhelming because we really didn't have time one on one with them. Dani was first in line.  They told us that she would ask all the time where her mama was. If someone new came to the orphanage she would ask "Are you my mama"? Heartbreaking! She stopped in the middle of the room stopped and just looked at me. I reached for her and told her to come here and she got the biggest smile on her face and littarly ran to me and hugged me so hard! Priceless!!!! She is sooooo cute and very tiny! Josh went right to Ken and Ken was lifting him up in the air and he was laughing and thinking this is so much fun.  This is all happening while I was with Dani and they were right next to me so I could see it. Then I put Dani down and Luke came to me, or I should say I went to Luke. He was petrified which in return scared me. I didnt know what to do. I had two other kids that were all over Ken and I, and I didn't know what to do.  The caretaker had Luke in the corner by himself and so I went over to see how or if, I could make him not so scared. I did my best but he really did not want anything to do with any of us. They told us we could bring the kids outside for a little bit so we did.  As we played with them one on one as much as we could we asked Roc to stay with Josh and Dani while we went to Luke. He was so obviously scared of us it broke my heart. He just really was freaking out.
We had to go get some paperwork done so our facilitator told us we had to go. The caretaker needed help with bringing Luke and Josh in because she could not do it herself so Ken and Roc helped her. They got to go all the way to their rooms. Luke did not want Ken to leave, he did not want to go to the caretaker. I think that was a good sign, right???? Please, please anyone reading this who has experience with DS let me know what I should know or look for!
It was to say the least, very emotional!! I told Ken that I didnt know if I could handle Luke, if we could handle Luke, if the kids could handle Luke. Ken being Ken and me being me, I jumped to the conclusion that this is who Luke is. Ken, not being a talker, was just thinking and then said to me and Roc in a kind of quesion like, he seemed to like me. He did seem to want to be with Ken over any of us. We talked about it all night and Ken said we have to give it more time. Its not only the DS but also a big part is being in a orphanage his whole life and we both know what that does to a child. He said remeber what it did to Lica? He could have been scared, out of his norm, wondering who the heck are these funny talking people and why are they looking and talking to me!
We were not able to visit that evening because we had lots more running around to do. We met Serge at the administration office. He was there before us doing what he needed to do and then our facilitator went in to do what she needed to do. That left us there to talk with Serge. I asked him if it took him three hours to get here and he said no, actually 2 1/2! Thats all it took for Roc to lay into him. You drive to fast and you are going to kill yourself she said. She told him he was crazy! He loved it and he loves this kid. They started talking about God and how God is watching over him when he drives. She told him God doesnt like it when you do stupid stuff! Thats all it took, the next hour was spent listening to Roc and Serge "discuss God"!!! She said she wanted to have ice cream that night. He told her God provides for what you need and not what you want. He asked her if she worked hard today? She said yes, we were running all day! He said then instead of all the talking you do you should just go up the street and get some ice cream. She said she didnt have any money and he told her again that God provides for what you need! If you worked hard than you need ice cream. He said she could go get free ice cream up the street because God would provide. She argued with him about that and all he said was you talk to much and if you want I will go with you and you will ask for ice cream and you will get it for free because God will provide you with it. She wasnt buying any of it but they walked up the street and she came back with a "free" ice cream bar! That lead to another 1/2 hour of them talking about God and what each other believe. She brought up Buddah for some reason or another and he said that all the little kids in China thinks he is a happy Buddah because of his belly! These two were to much to handle and we had to get going so as we were leaving she asked if she would see him tomorrow. He looked at her and pointed up to heaven and said God provides you with what you need not what you want!   We did end up seeing him the next day!!!                   The next morning we knew we had to see if we could, in some little way, see anything from Luke. Both Dani and Josh came to us all happy looking for balloons and all was well. Then they brought Luke out and he was not as scared but still scared. He wanted to go to Ken right away so Ken took him first walking the grounds while Roc and I stayed with Dani and Josh. Then it was my turn and I was scared. Scared that I would see nothing, scared that I would have to say no, scared that I may have been so wrong in thinking I could do this. I went over to him but he just wanted Ken. He wanted to sit with Ken, touch his face, and have Ken make fun noises to him. I started talking softly to him and make eye contact with him and it seemed to be working. Ken slowly started walking away until it was just Luke and I. He started to panic a little so I would just talk softly to him. I kissed his hand and tickled his belly. He wasnt to sure or keen on that but then I would just back off a little to give him some space and then try again. He let me put him on the slide and when I put my hand out he would grab it. He is so different than Josh or Dani - they both are BIG huggers and laugh a lot!
I still was not sure. How could I not be sure, that alone was making me crazy and hate myself. I hated myself for not feeling a contection with Luke like I had with Josh and Dani. The reason I told you about how Ken is because what happened next surprised me and put a sense of peace in my heart. Ken pulled me aside from Roc and It was just us two. He said I dont know a lot about Lukes condition or DS. I know we are scared but I see it in Luke. He needs us. He needs a family. He needs our family. It WILL take a lot of time but I think we need to give that to Luke but only IF you are up to it. Yes I told him, I am up to it but what if he never likes me? Nan, he will not only like you, he will love you. And if that is not enough, we will Love him!
This comming from Ken meant more to me than you will ever know. And he is right. If nothing else WE will LOVE Luke. Nothing in return, we will just love Luke and hope and pray that that is enough. So for today all the paperwork went in for all three kids. This could all change if they say no or if something drastically happens between now and next week to make us change our minds. Please pray that we see a change everyday in Luke!

Chapter 1

2010-05-25T08:53:00.000-05:00

Walked to our appointment and we got there at 10:30. We saw the Goodwins said Hi and went right in to the room with the couch. The Goodwins jokingly said don't take to long because we are right after you. Now I know we are doing something unheard of by adopting 4 unrelated sn kids from different regions but I still thought it would go pretty fast. Boy was I WRONG!! 12:05 I looked at Ken and said oh oh, poor Goodwins are probably panicked, there appt. was supposed to start 5 min ago! By 12:30 my eyes were starting to fill with tears and I told Serge I'm not leaving without all four! I will just go home now if it is not possible. Don't know why I said that because I don't really think I could leave any of them but we/they are having problems with 2 of the kids files. I can't go into to much detail because our blog is for any and all to read! To keep things light I looked at Ken and said to him that this probably wouldn't be a good time for me to take a break and go outside with tears in my eyes and a cigarette in my hand because it would REALLY freak out the poor Goodwins!! There was some paper mix up on our part and on the "teams" part and lets just say Serge was NOT happy!! He was on the phone S C R E A M I N G!!!! The poor guy was sweating and losing is breath! We had 3 SDA workers in with us telling him to quiet down. Then the 4th SDA worker who is right below the director came in and told him quite up and shut the door. She remembered Ken and Roc from when they were here in 2008 trying to adopt without a facilitator. Yes we tried to do it REALLY independently. Any way, she told Serege to quite up again because he was still yelling, so she could talk with us to see how we were and that she remembered us. So we had 4 SDA workers, Serge, Ken, Roc and myself in this tiny little room. I just kept thinking about the Goodwins and how they were probably wondering what the heck is going on. So they figured out the 3rd childs paperwork so now they were working on the fourth. They asked us how many kids we have, what the ages were and how many bedrooms we have. Yulia, they pronounce it Julia, came with another paper and then we left the room but had to wait outside for the Director to type up some document?! Serge was in and out and Yulia stayed outside the whole time with us. We were joking with her on how in the world she could work for such a boss!!!! She said she is used to him now. We told her we were sorry for the lashing she took and how bad we felt for her. She just laughed it off and said thats just how he is. Now Serge comes outside and told us no worry you get all four its just they have never seen a case like yours before! I know this is what God wants us to do so if we are somehow making it easier for other families who may want to adopt more than 3 at once from different regions then God can go ahead and use us. Besides, our reward is that we get to bring these four angles home with us. Serge told us that Odessa is a very hard region to adopt from and he will drive us down there because he needs to be there also. I asked him "Who is driving"???????? He said me. I then said out loud OH GOD HELP ME!!!!!! He thought that was one of the funniest things. He asked me why? I told him that I have heard about how he drives and I didnt want to go with him. I could just meet him there!! He was laughing saying no, it will only take us 3 hours to get there. I said YES I REALIZE THAT AND THATS WHY I DIDNT WANT TO GO WITH HIM. As he is laughing at me he said who is doing the adoption me or you. I told him I would really like my kids to have a mother, you are going to kill me! Yulia then got in on it as she too was laughing and asked me if I had some motion pills!! She told me that it takes her husband and her about 4 1/2 hours to get there but Serge only 3!!! But the road to Odessa is the nicest in all of Ukraine. Oh, thanks Yulia but that doesnt help me! She is very, very sweet and I love her already! Oh, and in the middle of all this Roc was asking Serge about Ukraine soccer teams and why they are not going to the word cup. He told her they aren't that good!! She was asking him all sorts of questions that had nothing to do with adoption and I think he rather liked that. Then she started talking to the ladies at the SDA in her broken Russian and their broken English. She was a very good deterrent through it all!!!! So the plan now is Yulia calls both Directors to let them know we have been there and we pick up the referrals for the 3 kids in Odessa tomorrow. Then we DRIVE with Serge to Odessa (God HELP me) Thursday morning and DRIVE back with Serge (God HELP me again) on either Friday or Saturday. Then go back to the SDA for Dennis, pick up his referral either Monday or Tuesday and head down to his region by (Thank You GOD) TRAIN. Thats all I know for now, as you can see things could very well change!!!! Please pray for us that we will be able to bring ALL FOUR home with us!! It all looks good but we have a long road ahead of us! Unless Serge is driving, then it will be a short road!!!! hehehe

KAYLEE

2010-05-25T00:57:00.000-05:00

Kaylee, plug the volume back on the computer!! You unplugged it before we left and never plugged it back in........you wont be able to hear the moooo when we email or IM you silly girl!!! And the ringer is turned down so you cant hear the phone ring!!! Miss you guys and I hope your taking care of grandpa!! Thank you Lica and Kaylee and grandpa for taking care of things while we are gone, LOVE you very much! And no fighting........that includes you too grandpa!!
Thanks Kit for checking in! And thanks to everyone following along with us and all the comments, they mean A LOT!!!
Off to the SDA now!

We Are Here!

2010-05-24T14:29:00.000-05:00

Well what can I say about our first flight out? I looked and Roc and said, somethng smells hot, like its burning or something. She said yup I can smell it too. The we asked Ken and of course he says I dont smell anything, everything is fine. 1/2 hour later, still stitting on the plane which has not moved the "voice" came on the speaker and said they were having mechanical difficulties and they had 4 different guys come on to check the gages up front. Something to do with the fuel sensors? Of course by this time my "medication" did NOT seem to be working and I was in the fetal postition!!! hehehehe! Needless to say we got a late start and were a little worried about making our conecting flight in Amsterdam. We only had a two layover. So when we got to Amsterdam we RAN to catch our flight and did make it. We arrived to a rainy Keiv where we loaded most of our luggage on a cart and wheeled the rest. Since the streets and parking lots are not the best we dropped our luggage more than once in the puddles of water!!! By the time we were all done Roc and I were laughing so hard it just didn't matter anymore! I will post pictures tomorrow we are all pretty tired. Are appt. is at 11 tomorrow so please be thinking of us and say a little prayer for good things.

Ready, Set, GO!!!!!

2010-05-23T15:50:00.000-05:00

Okay, we are ready! Well, as ready as we will ever be. I have my medication for trains, planes, and automobiles. And yes, I NEED them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have my carry on and purse ready............

And our luggage is packed somehow someway! All but ONE is donations

All of the stress AND months of scrimping AND saving AND fund raising AND garage sales AND collecting AND buying donations AND lets not forget all the paperwork!!!!!
All of this for FOUR GREAT REASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Chrissie's Family Blog

2010-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Dancing with Jesus

Chrissie has gone home to be with Jesus. Her heart has been healed and now she spins and she sways to the Cinderella song with Jesus as her dance partner.

Though Chrissie had a family for such a short time, I am so happy that she had a family that loved her while she went through this fight. The happiness they brought one another will live forever! Our prayers go out to her and her family.
You can click the button on the right to read about Chrissie and her family.

We Have A Date For Dennis!!!!

2010-05-13T15:13:00.000-05:00

MAY 25TH AT 11:00
I am so ready to start this part of the journey! I can't wait to hold and love and kiss our sweet boy!

Dennis's Dossier Submitted

2010-04-25T19:05:00.000-05:00

We have TWO dossier's to submit and Dennis's was the first one. Yup, it was submitted last week! We have to go through this process because Dennis is in a different orphanage, different region. It was double the work, double the time in country, double the money, and best of all it will be double the pleasure!!! Well really quadruple the pleasure!

Thank you to everyone that sent prayers out for Dennis and his situation on being transferred and God willing he will be there waiting for us when we arrive!
Hopefully our 2nd dossier will be submitted either this week or the following week. Then we get to start the journey on meeting our three other sweeties.
We still have a very long way to go in getting our kids home, but we are getting closer every day!

Asking for your prayers

2010-04-10T13:59:00.000-05:00

As you all know we are adopting Dennis also. He had a reprieve until May. When in May we have no clue, could be May 1 or May 31. We can not seem to get an answer to this question. We asked the same question for Josh and Luke too as they could be transferred at any time. The director of their orphanage said that they would keep them there for us. We just can't seem to get any information on his transfer date or if they even know we are coming for him.
Please, when you have some time, pray for us to get their in time. Before they transfer him. Pray that they know we are on are way. Our dossier is in his country and it is really just a matter of weeks before we can get to him. I have seriously thought of going their now to see what I could do, but I don't know what exactly I could do. If anyone has any suggestions on any of this please let me know! And above all else please send a prayer or two!

Thanks so much!

Update

2010-04-04T21:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lack of blogging but it has been very busy around here! We got our I171 last Thursday and we hope to have our dossiers, both of them, submitted on April 15th. We have to have two dossiers as Dennis needs his own because he is in a different region than our other three kids. So lets just say we have not had a lot of down time getting another whole dossier ready to go! So worth it though!!! We also have been changing the kids bedrooms around as we received a "surprise email" from South America!!! God really does have a sense of humor! I can hardly wait for the day to hold those four little ones and bring them home! I'm sure it will be here before I know it!
Hope everyone had a happy and blessed Easter!

His Style

2010-03-15T20:19:00.000-05:00

Okay, so the other day I was sitting at the table waiting for James to come home from school. He came running in to tell me that he has a friend that is a girl. Well, some girl said that he was her "friend". Now me being me ask him, aren't all the kids in your class your friends? Yes mom but she is my friend! I know James but all of the kids in your class are your friends right? Yes mom but its like when Im in gym and do something, ALL the girls smile and laugh and ALL the boys look at me like this ( he puts a frown on his face). Well aren't the boys in your class your friends? Yes mom but, but, but.....its like the girls like my "style". Oh , I didnt realize you have a "style" what is it? Its like when I wear my nice shirts and Roc fixes my hair (with mouse) and the way I act. They like my "style". Oh I get it! Hey James, do you know you are 7? Yes mom but I will be 8 in May! Oh, I see. Hey James, do you know you are only 8??? Ya mom, can you cut my hair so Roc can fix it better and can you call me Jim? Well far be it from me to stand in my sons "style"!!!!

Before

After
Oh brother, I cant really tell a whole lot of difference in JIMS style but as long as his style is back and he is happy that is all that really matters! Im sure I made all the 7yr old girls happy too!!!

On the adoption front we are just waiting for our I171 to show up in the mail. We are still planning to bring all four of the kids home, God willing!

Update on some kids

2010-02-23T12:42:00.000-06:00

Some of you have been asking about the two sisters from Hatti that I posted about. They are fine, thank God, and still in Hatti waiting for their forever family!

A Love Beyond Borders
2022 Hudson Street Suite 100-B
Denver, CO 80207
Phone: 303-333-1572
Email: haiti@bbinternationaladoption
Another family, that just got word of a travel date to go meet their cute little girl, posted on a little Bulgarian orphan.

I wrote her a while ago to find out on the little girl and the little ones you can see in the background of the video. I asked about adopting them and what I could do to help and this is what she sent me.
I have it on the side of my blog also if you would like to donate!

Hi Nance,

I am sorry it has taken this long for me to reply to your email about little Boshidara. Thank you for your concern. To my knowledge, she is still alive. I told them to contact me if/when she passes. As for the child in the background, I don't have any information. It IS possible to adopt from Bulgaria. How wonderful that you have blessed 6 children's lives by adopting them into your family.

You will be glad to know that Boshidara's suffering is not in vain. Because of what I saw, I decided to take even greater action. In a few days, One Heart Bulgaria is flying 3 neurosurgeons to Boston so that they can attend the World Conference of Neurology where for 4 days they will receive extensive training in the area of hydrocephalus and neuro tube defects, which is what Boshidara suffers with. It is our hope that with this special training, Bulgaria's babies and children will no longer have to suffer with the less-than-satisfactory medical efforts of Bulgaria's doctors. We hope this training will infiltrate the hospitals and have a dramatic effect. We will follow up on it.

In the meantime, there are ways to help Boshidara and her orphan comrades to be more comfortable. The orphanage is in need of disposable diapers. Through our donors, we are able to provide the orphanage with $150 worth of diapers/month but they said it isn't enough. If you are interested in raising funds or donating towards diapers, that would be wonderful.

In the meantime, thank you for your support and for your concern.

Best regards,

Deborah Dushku Gardner

One Heart Bulgaria, Co-founder/President

http://www.oneheart-bg.org/

Dennis has a family!!!

2010-02-17T20:35:00.000-06:00

Has anyone seen it yet? Dennis has a forever family! He is going to a family in Minnesota with lots of brothers and sisters and a mom that has loved him for a year now! They were so happy a few months ago to see a family commit to him and so very sad when they found out that it did not work out. When Dennis's mom asked about him a year ago, her husband wasnt sure about adopting a child with DS. Her and her husband chose a little girl with sn but not DS. The mom always checked on him to see if his forever family found him. Once they saw that a forever family had chose him, they went ahead and commited to a little boy with DS. Dennis opened their hearts to the possibility of loving a child with DS. Yes, her husband was now ready and at peace to bring a little one home with DS. After all, Dennis had a family so she felt okay with the ideal of rescuing another angel she had falling in love with. Then the family chose just one more special boy with DS and all was well. Then this family found out that Dennis was once again available and weeks away from being transferred to an institution. They asked about him but were told that they didnt think it was possible to adopt four sn kids at one time : (
Until today..............WE are bringing Dennis HOME!!!!! (I know Kit, aren't you glad you live right down the road??? I am!!) We found some things out today and we are asking for your prayers that this all works out! We are going to Eastern Europe to bring all four home! We are so excited and thrilled and we cant wait to hold them! It will be a lot of running and a lot more extra money for us so if you have a few extra dollars laying around and you wouldn't mind helping us out, please, please, donate. Even if it is a dollar! Because every dollar adds up and we need to travel soon before Dennis is transferred! I will be doing a auction in 1 1/2 weeks so stay tuned! And if anyone has anything they would like to donate for the auction, let me know.

Bitter Sweet

2010-02-05T19:47:00.000-06:00

As you know I have been advocating for Dennis. He was one of my favorites from day 1!!!
We decided on Dania and soon after Dennis had a family! One of my other favorites was ready to be transferred to an institution where he could no longer be adopted, and since Dennis had a family now we chose Josh. Then a few weeks ago I saw another little boy ready to be transferred and he was from the same baby house as Dania and Josh. We decided that we would also bring him home, Luke. It will be so great for all three who have probably grown up together to stay together. He is a cutie that's for sure. 2 days later, only 2 days, Dennis lost his family. I was heart broken to say the least. I contacted Andrea from RR and asked her if anyone had asked about Dennis. She told me that one family is CONSIDERING him. I asked her if the other family says no to him, how far he was from our baby house and if we could take him. She told me it was not to far but a totally different region and it would cost around 10k more and longer in country. I told her I didnt care but I was not going to let him be transferred, it was Dennis for goodness sake. She then told me that she knows of no judge that would let us adopt 4 special needs kids.
There was no way we could ever "swap" Luke out for Dennis. We had already promised Luke a family. So I thought this was Gods way of giving me an answer, and maybe it is. He knows my heart and knows I could never do that to Luke. But I have grown to love Dennis. He was actually the one boy that made me consider adopting a child with Ds.
So now I have been bugging poor Andrea, pleading with her to let us try. She has talked to the facilitator and he does not think it will fly. We have been approved for 4 children with sn with everyone except the country where Dennis is from. We have not been turned down but it has never been done in this country. There are now 2 families considering Dennis so I am praying like you would not believe for him!!!! And if one of these families does not take him, I will. Some how, some way, by the grace of God - WE WILL!!!!
Please, please pray for Dennis that he finds a family - any family!!!! I love him so much.

Dennis and Alec

2010-01-16T20:05:00.000-06:00

Dennis and Alec both have a $5000.00 GRANT!!!! If someone out there could find it in their heart to save both of these two angels the expense for the facilitator would be paid!! Please, please consider saving them!
Get the word out about them! Tell your friends, church, school, anyone that will listen!! Ask for their prayers and donations to help some family bring them HOME! If we all pull together in prayer and action it can be done!

One of my 5 faces - Please Help

2010-01-15T21:23:00.000-06:00

Thursday, January 14
ORPHAN CRISIS! Dennis... Please Share!

All, regrettably, the family who was hoping to adopt Dennis and Anna will not be able to complete the adoption.

The most difficult part is that Dennis is literally WEEKS from transfer to the institution, one he can not be adopted out of. We are desperately seeking a paper-ready, USCIS ready family who would be willing to specifically request him so he can be saved. Other photos available, we have had several families adopt from this orphanage previously as well.

Dennis (9)
BOY, Born March 18, 2006

I LOST MY FAMILY!

Dennis has lost his family at the 11th hour, and is in crisis need of a paper-ready, USCIS approved family to save him from an institution he can't be adopted out of.

Dennis is a darling little boy with blonde hair and big blue eyes. He is not very active, and he struggles with pulmonary artery stenosis and rickets. He needs to get HOME, so he can have adequate medical care, sunshine, nutrition....so he really has a chance to achieve his true potential. He is an orphanage favorite, but he won't survive a transfer to the institution. Please consider rescuing this munchkin!!
Regrettably, this orphanage is one of the poorer ones, with very little outside aid and very little hope. All of the children are tiny and undernourished. These children are immediately transferred at 4, and have little chance of survival where they are sent. All of our waiting children need families, but these have a critical need. Please consider one of these children soon!!

Contact Andrea for more information
I have $3231 in my grant fund towards the cost of my adoption!

Further donations are helpful, but the crisis now is to find another family.

Dennis is in the same orphanage as ALEC, who is also still waiting and faces the same fate in June. If there is ANYONE out there who is ready for Eastern Europe, please contact me ASAP at bamaroberts@... Parents must be no more than 45 years in age difference from Dennis.

You can see all of the waiting children in orphanage 9 at www.reecesrainbow.org/eelittles.html and www.reecesrainbow.org/atriskwaiting.html

Thank you for your prayers tonight, for this little boy who has no idea what March 18 holds for him...for this family who must so very sad to not be able to save him...and for a new family to be ready in the wings and waiting to save Dennis.

Andrea Roberts, Executive Director
Reece's Rainbow Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry
www.reecesrainbow.org

A 15 yr Old Girl

2010-01-07T19:46:00.001-06:00

While we were on Christmas break one of the things we did was call Kaylee's friends from her orphanage. There are 15 girls living there as of today. If any of the girls have a foster mom or an aunt or some kind of extended family they can go visit them on their break. The good news is 13 girls were gone and we couldn’t talk with them. The bad news is 2 of the girls had no place to go and were the only 2 girls left in the house. One of the girls Kaylee did not know and the other was one of the girls I met and Kaylee’s friend. So we ended up talking with her for close to an hour. One of the things she asked me was if I could please find her a family. It’s so sad to here someone ask this! We have thought about going to get her knowing she would be easy, but expensive to adopt but........OUR girl is still their and I ~~know~~ don't think she would understand us taking her friend instead of her. We just can’t do something like that to our Colombian daughter. So Im going to do what she asked me to do. Im going to try to find her a family. She is 15 and will turn 16 in early July so it does not leave a lot of time but I'm going to try anyway!!! Here are some pictures of her and a couple of her with our two girls, the one living with us and the one still living in Colombian.

These were taken when we brought Kaylee to say good bye last November. If any one is interested or knows someone that may be interested PLEASE let me know. These girls are all such good girls!

I saw this video on another blog. Its Michael Franti singing his song Have a Little Faith. I love Michael Franti and all his songs! The kids and I dance around to his song "I love you"! To Fun! But this video fits in so well with my journey on finding a family for a 15yr old sweetheart!

Thank You!

2009-12-22T19:37:00.000-06:00

Ken sent out an email to some of his coworkers the other day that asked for donations in helping us raise funds for our adoption. It was a very hard thing for him to do because he HATES asking for help......for anything! I told him what Andrea, the director of RR, had told me. If you don’t ask, you won’t get help. People may not even know what you are doing and that you may need some help. You may just find that once they know, they will help! The worst thing that could happen is no one would help. Well as you can see by our family sponsorship page, they helped! It is very humbling, to say the least, that people would be so generous in helping us bring these two kids home! I don’t think there is a way for us to find out the specific people who donated, so please accept this HUGE THANK YOU from us to everyone that donated money to Dania and Josh! You will know what you did when Ken brings them into work for you to meet. You will see it in their eyes that they finally have a family and are truly loved!

Again, you will never know what your generosity means to us and thank you so much!!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!!!

I will leave you with some meaningful words from my one of my favorite parts of a Christmas show we watch every year!

Isn't There Anyone Who Knows What

Christmas is All About?

The best explanation I ever heard was the one Linus gave to Charlie Brown...

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them,

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

LUKE 2:8-14

Guess what we did???

2009-12-16T21:35:00.000-06:00

So from the 8th of December until the 14th we have all been sick!! And when I say All and Sick, that's what I mean. Poor Charley started it and Ken finished it. The only one not hit was James. I kept him home for a few days hoping he wouldn't spread the nasty germ to his class mates. I wanted to keep him home one more day but he was begging me to go back to school. I think he was sick of being around sick people!!

On the 7th though is when you have to guess what Roxana and I did. I will even give you some picture hints to help you. Hint 1: Wee hours in the morning. You can see Roc in the white coat with her two thumbs up!

Okay, hint 2: We got inside where it was warm and a bomb sniffing dog went all around.

Still need more clues???

Okay, Clue 3:

Yup, we stood in line to meet former Governor Sarah Palin and of course the First Dude. Roxana was so excited to meet and talk with her it was crazy. If you dont know us, you can say we are a pretty political family. I read another families blog who is adopting through RR who met Ms. Palin also and blogged about it. Man oh man the comments she received. So whoever out there that doesnt like Palin or anything she stands for, you can just stop reading now. We here at the Fritz Farm LOVE her and pretty much everything she stands for. Of course the first thing Roc told her was that her grandpa loved her. She got a big kick out of that! While Roc was talking with Sarah that left me to talk to who else but Todd! Not a problem for me!! Roc and Grandpa were kidding me telling me that they think he may be married. I just said, oh you mean that lady sitting next to him! hehehe! Hey, what happens and the Mall of America stays at the Mall of America!

All kidding aside, they were very nice to us and we even got to meet her aunt Katie and Trig! He is sooooo cute! Oh, and Roc was in the Star Tribune because someone their interviewed her.

Crowds cheer as Palin arrives for book-signing: [Star Tribune, Minneapolis]

"I just really think she's inspirational," said Roxana Fritz, of Cottage Grove. The 14-year-old, who came to the mall with her mother, said she thinks Palin would be a great president -- she'd keep taxes low, drive down the national debt and do military policy right, Fritz said. "She would do a lot to help this country."

I don't think anyone was more proud of her than her grandpa!! We had to go buy a paper for him so he could show anyone that stops by! To Funny!!!

It was a very long morning, but we met some really fun people and got three books signed. One for Roc, one for grandpa's Christmas present and one for our blog auction. So if you want one be sure to check back in February for our auction!

Our Girl in Colombia

2009-12-05T08:39:00.000-06:00

I don't know if you remember me talking about a 14 yr old girl in Colombia that we are trying to bring home. A lot of problems are preventing us in doing so but we still consider her to be part of our family! Anyway, she was going to be celebrating her 15th birthday along with 2 other girls. Your 15th birthday is a big thing and they make a huge celebration out of it. I'm glad she is in an orphanage that really takes care of these girls and gives them much opportunity to do the things one would do if they had a family. She wanted us to fly there to celebrate with her and the other girls but unfortunately that was not an option for us!!!! We told her we would send her a dress and shoes for the occasion and my search was on! We found a 255.00 prom dress marked down to 40 bucks at Davids Bridal!!! I had to do some minor repair work on the beads by sewing some back on tighter and then added a few here and there but all in all turned out great! We just sent the dress, shoes and a note telling her to have FUN and that she was LOVED!!!
We just received this email from her letting us know how thankful she was and how happy it made her that we loved her enough to do this for her and that she loved and missed us!
What a small price to pay to make someone feel truly loved and wanted!!! One day she will be home!
What a BEAUTY, dont ya think?!?!?!

$1 challenge!!!!

2009-12-03T19:39:00.000-06:00

Here's a comment I just received:

I’m holding a $1 challenge over at www.findingkirilsfamily.blogspot.com, on the countdown to Christmas. Kiril is a little boy with significant special needs who has been waiting on Reece’s Rainbow for a long time, and has been bedridden in an institution for over 6 months now. My goal is to get as many people as possible to come and donate just ONE dollar to Kiril’s RR grant, and then pass this message on to just ONE other person of their choice.

Apart from people I know well, I’m contacting 50 people whose circumstances I’m not as familiar with - so if you’re in the middle of an adoption etc, I obviously don’t expect you to donate. But *please* pass along this message, whether you can give yourself or not.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!
- Christine

I know that we are in the middle of an adoption that is costing us plenty! And I know that we are asking for any donation amount to help us bring these two little ones home. But if you could find it in your hearts to just give 1 dollar for Kiril that would be great!!! Think of it, if we all gave only 1 dollar it just may help Kiril find his forever family!!! Thanks

James, Jerlin and Charley

2009-12-01T17:56:00.003-06:00

James, who is now 7, knew what he wanted and wanted it badly! Once they told him a family was coming for him he would go in every day to the orphanage office and say, "You told me my family was coming, where are they?" The night before we got to Colombia they took the kids to where we would all be staying and James wasn't about to leave. He said he was going to stay and wait for us to get there. About a week after having the kids with us we went to visit the orphanage to say good bye. James walked in to this quite hallway and yelled, "Hey chiquitinas (the name of the orphanage) Im here to visit!" then looked at me and said that he used to live here but no more. He left that life and has never looked back. He looks at it as a place he was staying until his mom and dad came to bring him home. He talkes of all the kids fighting there and of the food they got to eat at lunch time and of the kids that he lived with, that he was not very fond of. Once he was with us he was ours and we were his. James is the most compasionate, loving little boy. He loves our animals and is so gentel with them. He sees a dog running on the side of the road and wonders if he is hungery! A boy after my own heart!!! He also loves to help tata in the garage to fix anything and everything. He has a passion for life. He wants to try everything there is to try. Even with food. He saw some black olives at one of our get togethers with friends and asked what they were. He wanted to try them to see if he liked them. He popped one in his mouth, tasted and tasted it. thought about it for a little bit and decided that no, he didnt like them. But he tried it! Pretty good for a 7yr old if I do say so myself. I would say without a doubt that his adjustment was the easiest!

Jerlin on the other hand was a different story. She is now 6 and wasnt to sure of us. Out of all the kids she was defentaly the one who took the longest to bond. She cried every night when going to bed for about 3 weeks. She didnt really want much to do with us. So it made having her brothers and sisters there a huge blessing! Even the foods we made she wasnt to sure of. It was everything about the change that made her unsure of what was going on. Now, one year later, things are much different. She loves, loves, loves the attention she gets from mama and tata and her older sisters! She is relizing that she is not going anywhere and that we are ALL a family.....forever. And she knows that we will all be there for her through good and bad, no matter what. She loves to show off and I would say her two favorite things are dancing and talking!!!!

Charley did not talk or smile or laugh at the orphanage and they told us this. He has had ear infections his whole life and because of that has some hearing loss. He has already had one surgery and is going to have another next year. He tested positive for TB so he was on meds for 9 months. Now that he is done with the TB meds and the ear meds he has finally started growing and gaining weight. 3 inches and 5 pounds in just the last 2 monts! We have seen the biggest change in this little one. He talks ALL THE TIME (even though we have a hard time understanding him), laughs, giggles and is one happy little camper! His 2 favorite things are to take little play bugs and spiders and scare the heck out of mom and her friends! And the other favorite thing that I think is so cute is that he has to dress like tata. A blue flannel jacket every day like tatas and he has to wear a tie to church, just like tata!

They are all your typical little kids and love to taddle on each other. Or when you ask who did it they all point to one of the other kids. They love bath time, supper at the table together so they can all talk at once, playing outside on the trampoline and going to grandpas so they can have pie and ice cream for breakfast!!!!

ONE reason we are doing what we are doing

2009-11-23T20:57:00.000-06:00

When I contacted Andrea about Josh she was not sure if he was transferred to an institution yet or not. Josh was in the same baby house as Benjamin. They may have been buddies. Its hard for me to think of.

This is Benjamin. He is 7 years old. He has Down syndrome and was in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. He was in need of an adoptive family. He still has the need for an adoptive family, but no longer has the chance for one.

You see, in many areas of Eastern Europe, kids with disabilities that age out of the baby house are transfered to mental institutions. Many of these institutions block adoptions, and a child has no way out. They are left to die, and many of them will meet that fate quickly. These institutions are not looking to save lives, but to be a holding place for those that are so forgotten that no one will ever know of their passing, let alone care!

Now, some may say "Life is so unfair, why would God let this happen to an innocent child?"... Be careful if you ask this question of God for He may very well say "Why did you?".

What prevented someone from coming for Benjamin? Time? Money? Room? His disability? The paperwork involved? The baring of ones life to social workers and various agencies? The risk of heartache? The risk of standing out, of being different? Do you really think these things are BIG problems for God?

This childs light has been dimmed, so much so that most, if not all of us will soon forget that he even existed. That is a true tragedy. A child, so precious, so dear to Jesus, so much a part of WHO God is... and we just let him linger and die alone! Like an animal that has become to prevalent, and whose numbers must be thinned, many view this little brown haired beauty as a worthless commodity that has no value. He is just a nuisance that stands in the way of something greater. The lottery of survival of the fittest in the world of an orphan is ugly, brutal, and an everyday reality. And little Benjamin lost the lottery... tough draw kid. :(

God is a specific God, and Benjamin was created with love, care, and intricate detail. HOW DARE THAT THE WORLD REJECT THIS PRECIOUS GIFT GOD SO FREELY BLESSED US WITH! HOW DARE WE!!!

Did he ever know his mamas loving embrace? Did he ever hear a lullaby as he drifted off to sleep? Was he ever held when he was scared or sick? Was there ever anyone who gave one little smile or felt one tiny sense of pleasure when he accomplished something for the first time? Was he ever held in the arms of one whose heart was singing praises of thankfulness to God for just being able to hold him close? The reality is most likely no to all of these questions.

NO! NO? How can a child be born and never know any of these things???? How can we care so little? HOW?

Did you know that despite being full of children a number of orphanages are eerily silent? How long does it take for the heart of an innocent child to finally realize that know one cares so they stop crying? stop playing? stop laughing?

My heart is sad. Is it wrong to hope he dies quickly and painlessly so that he will know these things wonderful and loving things in heaven? That he will be perfect? That he will never know loneliness or fear or suffering again? I think it is wrong, it shows a lack of faith and trust in God. Or maybe... in some circumstances and just for a while, it is okay....

I will be praying for you little Benjamin. Praying that your Saviors arms rock you to sleep tonight. That he is in your dreams, showing you his love. And that human arms are sent your way and are able to hold you close praising God for your life!

This was written by another family adopting two little ones from Eastern Europe. You should really check out their blog! http://trustedwithmuch.blogspot.com/

Thank you Kelly, for writing this so PERFECT!!!!

3 weeks since last post!!!!

2009-11-22T12:10:00.000-06:00

I know, I know! I'm not very good at keeping up with my poor blog!! I'm just so busy working 2 jobs, keeping up with 6 kids and we have been busy sewing up a storm to sell things at craft sales to help raise money for this adoption. Its big craft sale show time here in Minnesota and we are trying to hit as many as we can! A lot has been happening in the Fritz family but nothing more exciting as deciding to bring Josh home with us as well as Dania!!! Everything just seemed to fall into place about this little boy! When we first found Reece’s Rainbow, which I hope everyone reading this checks out!!!! www.reecesrainbow.com, there were five little ones that totally touched my heart. Dania of course, Dennis, Dolly, a little girl from Bulgaria who is no longer listed, and Josh. I couldn’t pick just one because in my mind if I picked one I would be leaving the others behind. But with lots of prayer and conversations with the family, we decided on Dania. She just seemed to be the one that was already part of our family. The problem, I could not get the other four out of my thoughts!!!! Then I saw that the little girl from Bulgaria was gone, not listed any longer. Then Dolly, from a different country than Dania found her forever family, and then sweet, precious Dennis from a region far from Dania found his family. That left my Josh, with the sweetest face in the world! So after talking with Ken and telling him only Josh is left he assured me that Josh would find his family too! A few weeks past and Josh still didn’t find his family and he was turning 6 in a couple of weeks and I knew his days were numbered! We knew we couldn’t afford to bring another one home with not only the cost but also the travel from one part of Dania’s region to Joshes region if they were even in the same country!!! We knew it would cost us thousands of dollars more to adopt a second child. And then there was the fact that Josh has Down Syndrome. I know nothing about DS and I am embarrassed to say I was scared! Ken was even more scared. For some reason Thursday morning I asked Andrea where Josh was. That’s all, just a simple question. Well come to find out that he was in the same country as Dania and surprisingly, unbelievably, he was in the same orphanage!!!! And he had some grant money! But Andrea did not know if he had been transferred to an institution yet or not so she would have to check. Late Thursday she got back to me that Josh WAS still in the baby house! Coincidence......maybe? Gods hand in all this.....I think so! Now all I had to do was convince Ken! No small feat! He knew nothing, absolutely nothing about DS and told me that he would have to read and search as much as could before making this big of a decision. And that he has to have the best interest in the kids that we have and what is best for them. That he didn’t want to "burden" them with taking care of Josh when we all got older! All these were real concerns for him but he was not telling me the truth!!! Friday morning he had talked with Andrea to tell her to move him to the committed family section under Fritz Family! All day I kept emailing and calling Ken to try to convince him why all along he had already committed to Josh! When I got home from work I kept looking at his picture and showing Ken at just how down right adorable he was! He kept saying he wasn’t sure and that something about his eyes that he was worried about. Just a way for me to go back into the RR website to look at Josh again! When Ken talked with Andrea on Friday morning he had asked her to wait until I got home to actually move Joshes picture over to our committed family section. Once I got home he had emailed Andrea to say move it now she is going on the RR site to look at Josh. I went into RR because Ken was so concerned about something with Joshes eyes! I went in, and there he was. My sweet Josh right next to our sweet Dania! What a guy! A very sweet thing to do. Love you Ken!!! I think Josh will teach us all something about life! Not that all of our kids haven’t taught us things but Josh, well Josh will teach us things that I don’t think we even know we have to be taught!!! The kids are beyond happy! For myself and Ken......Scared, a little! Excited, yes! Blessed, VERY!!!!

Kaylee part 2

2009-11-05T20:37:00.000-06:00

Since Kaylee has only been here less than a year it obviously wont be as long as Licas or Rocs. But I do have more to tell you about Kaylee! She is a very artistic girl. She draws like you would not believe. She makes little things out of paper......she can make anything out of paper. She makes things out of beads, yarn, and rope. And she is just now learning how to sew with a sewing machine. She designs a outfit she likes on paper and then takes bits of fabric and sews them by hand for Jerlins barbie dolls! Cool! Because she was older when she came home we thought her language transition would be the most difficult. Not so, she wanted to learn English so bad she was speaking and writing within the first two months. She doesn't understand and always asks me why I am so emotional. I see a sad movie, I cry. I see all the orphans, I cry. She tells me her story when she was younger, I cry. I see a dead dog on the side of the road, I cry. And its not just sad stuff......I see a movie with a great ending, I cry. I see my kids do something sweet, I cry. A woman at our garage sale gave us a 10 dollar donation, I cried! She just doesn't get me. But then again most people don't. I think the thing I LOVE about her most is her sick sense humor, like mine. Grandpa tells her the joke about the guy going to the doctor and says doctor, doctor it hurts my arm when I do this.......doctor says, don't do that. Guy says, I want a second opinion.........Okay the doctor says, your ugly too! She cant get enough of that stupid joke. She tells everybody and laughs like it was the first time she heard it. She asks me "mom, don't you think that is funny"? I tell her Maybe the first time I hear (not so much) but defiantly not the 100th time I hear it!!! Grandpa is in heaven cuz he finally has someone to laugh at all his silly jokes! When we switched her to private school she learned that she has TONS of homework every night. Unfortunately I need to help her, every night. So when she walks in the house I look at her and say, do we have homework again tonight???? She answers, well you sent me to that school!!! To Funny!

Kaylee is very sweet and caring and is sooooooooo happy to be in a family and have a real mom. One that is really there for her. She loves to hear about mine and Kens past on how we met, why we dated, why we married. She even made me get my wedding dress out so she could try it on. Once she saw it she asked how I ever fit into it......told ya she was FUNNY!

Then she ~~made~~ had Lica try it on.........

The she really had to ~~scream~~ beg for Roc to try it on.......

It was to much fun!!! The sweetest thing she ever asked me was "Mom, why do I love you so much"? Because I love you more Kaylee, I love you more!"

Kaylees Turn

2009-10-27T18:39:00.001-05:00

Our four nino's from South America! About 2 years ago we started talking about adopting an older child. We started out in Ukraine and ended up in South America. Ukraine didnt work out for us but we were told of waiting children in Colombia. We were told of an older girl that was available for adoption but she had three younger siblings. In Colombia they do seperate the children if need be and Kaylee, the oldest of the four was willing to be seperated so that her siblings could stay together. So this post will be about Kaylee, the little girl that has gone through to much in her short life and has a heart of gold!

One thing about adopting an older child and one that has taken care of her siblings is that they one, come with alot more memories of what exactly has happened to them and not always wanting to just open up about it. And 2, they have a hard time letting go of someone else taking care of the siblings. We were told this by many people and to prepare ourselves for this. Well, not the case with Kaylee. She was more than willing to let someone else take on the responsiblilty to have someone take care of her siblings. And as for not wanting to talk to us about her past, she is so OPEN about her past that I just sit there with my jaw hanging open in amazement on how reslient this kid is! She had her birth mother that was in and out of her life, mostly out, 2 older sisters and one older brother. She does not know who her birth father was. Her older sister took care of Kaylee and her older brother a lot of the time. When her sister got sick of that, she left leaving Kaylee alone with her older brother. Soon after her older brother decided to leave also, which left Kaylee alone. But not for long as her mother would be having babies for Kaylee to take care of. Kaylee was in and out of foster care and the last time was when Kaylee, a 8yr old, was taking care of her 1,2,and 3yr old siblings for quite some time. One day the neighbors saw that the 3yr old, James, was out and about in the streets and called the authorities. When the authorities got there they saw things that most of us cannot even imagen! Here is this 8yr old girl living in a "room" trying to feed, keep clean, keep in line 3 little babies! How in the world??? Needless to say the children were not in the best of condition. She was 8 for goodness sake!!! She remembers James screaming as they sperated Kaylee from the three little ones. This has haunted her and has made her feel guilty beyond belief! She thinks she should have been able to not let this happen to her family, she thinks that she didnt work hard enough, that she should have been watching James more and then this wouldnt have happened! She has so much hate towards her birth mother and doesnt understand why she could have done this to her. Heres the part thats hard for me not to say, Boy are you so right! How could she do this to you, I hate her too for doing this to you! But I dont. I tell her the truth. Your mom is your mom and you dont know what she went through when she was a little girl or a teenager or a young adult. You dont know what pain she had in her life or what addictions she all had or what it was like to walk in her shoes. She is who she is, she did what she did and unfortanatly you get stuck with all the bad memories and all the bad stuff that happened to you. But you can make it such a happy ending if you choose to! You have that ability to do with your life whatever you want. You get to choose to let it run your life or not! You have the choice. The three little kids were put into foster care together and Kaylee was put in an orphanage. Why, I dont know. After 1 year the 3 little kids were put in an orphanage 3 hours away from the orphanage Kaylee was put into. After being in the orphanage for around 6 months, she asked the director where her siblings were. They told her that they were and from that day forward Kaylee fought every day for 21/2 years to be reunited with them. She actually fought the Colombian government to get back to her 3 siblings! They told her it could not be done because the siblings were in an orphanage for small kids. They told her that it just is not done. She would not, did not, accept it. They were her brothers and sister and she wanted to be with them. After 3 years of forming realationships with the other girls and caretakers in her orphanage she was still willing to leave them for her siblings! I cant even imagine at 8,9,10 and 11yrs of age doing this!

When she finally was able to get to her brothers and sister in their orphanage, she knew that the possibilty of her being adopted was slim! They didnt even really remember Kaylee. They were to young when they were all sperated to remember. But she remembered them! With the age difference between them 11, 6, 5, and 3, she knew that they would have a better chance of being adopted without her. She thought who would want an 11 yr old. So she told the director that it would be okay for them to try to find a home for the 3 and she would stay behind. After all those years and all that work! It so reminds me of the story in the Bible about King Solomon having to know who the true mother is. And the true mother giving up her son so he could live. She is such a good, wonderful girl. I love her so much and I am very proud of her!

Since I have to keep things FAIR, I will do a part two for Kaylee also. Until next time....................

Busy Weekend

2009-10-18T22:11:00.001-05:00

Well we finished up our garage sale for Dania. We were going to have it Thursday through Sunday but Thursday it was raining all day with some snow. So we had it for 3 days. We made $500.00! I think that is really good considering it was a chilly Friday and Saturday. Sunday was so nice I think people just wanted to get some last minute yard work done before the snow came!!!

After the sale today we wanted to do something fun with the kids so we decided to make some caramel apples. First things first so we had to unwrap all the caramels and try not to eat them instead of putting them in the pan to melt!

Step two, melt the caramels.

Step three, get the apples ready for dipping.

Step four, dip.

Step five, EAT!

And we only had a couple of mishaps while having our fun. One right before we started.

And one during step two!

All in all a really GREAT weekend!!!

Roc - Part 2

2009-10-09T05:11:00.000-05:00

For the life of me I don't know how some of you find the time to blog. It seems like I have no time at all. But here it goes. I have about 1/2 hour before I leave for work so lets see what I can all fit in here. I keep telling Roc that she will need "5 Parts" instead of just 2 like Lica.
Roc started turning around at about the 4th grade. One of the first things we did when she was 9 was enrolled her in a private school, the same school I went to when I was 9. We still had to be "on" her every minute of the day and night but the different school seemed to help. Its a christian school and I remember asking our Pastor if he could work on putting the fear of God into her!!! Just to help us out some. By 6th grade she was actually becoming aware of the outcome of her actions. She was turning into the girl that I had hoped and prayed she may become. She seemed more confident and comfortable with herself. She has always been outgoing and not afraid to get involved with anything, but she was just much more at ease with herself. She knew right from wrong, good from bad, and how its nice to be nice (grandpas saying)! And believe me, this was HUGE! In the middle of 8th grade she switched back to a public school because she hated being the only 8th grader!!! I remember when I was in the 8th grade and I didn't blame her one bit and knew It was time for her start spreading her wings in a much bigger school!
Roxana is such a unique girl. She does things that either make me cry (when she was younger) or laugh till I have tears in my eyes!! She is very open with me and always has been. I find it kind of odd though that she would be this open with me at the age of 14!? Hey, not complaining here, just so happy she know she can come to me about anything. Not to say she is not your typical 14 yr old though. She came to me the other day informing me that she was going to prom. Oh, really I said, and who are you going with? Well so and so asked me. Well Roc remember you can't date until your 16, tata (dad) says 30, but I will let it fly at 16. "Oh mom, its not a date its "hanging out". Are you kidding me Roc??? Oh, I'm sorry for explaining it to you wrong, my bad. NO HANGING OUT till 16!! How dumb am I for not explaining it correctly??? She got my drift. She will just be in the homecoming parade this Friday for soccer and then spending a quite evening at home with her family. Love ya Roc, I know you are reading this before you go to school!!!
Roxana is a good kid. She gets A's and B's on her report card now. And that's with her taking some honor classes. She has many friends including the girl she grew up with who lived down the street. She knows the meaning of paying it forward and lending a helping hand. She grows her hair out for about 3 years and then gets it cut off to donate. This will be her 3rd time in doing this. Good kid!!! She is a hard worker and doesn't stop with something until it is finished. She wants to go to college to become a nurse/missionary. I hate the thought of her living in some 3rd world country, far away from me, doing this kind of work. Ken tells me that she is only 14 and she will change her mind over and over again. But I know Roc, and she has talked about this for a couple of years now. Deep down in my heart I know that one day she will indeed do this. Where does she get these crazy ideals from. I mean really, living in a 3rd world country taking care of needy orphans???? Oh, that's right, we have 6 soon to be 7 of them living here with us!!! And if you check the little button, AMAZIMA, I have posted to the right of my blog you will see a young women who is doing this kind of work. She is amazing, truly amazing. I'm joking when I say she is crazy for wanting to do this. Roc just wants to do it a little different than we did. Instead of helping 7 she wants to help 7000!!!! Leave it to Roc to up me one! I'm so Proud, Happy, Lucky, Impressed and Amazed by her! I'm so glad tata picked you!!! We love you Roc!!!!

Roxana: Part 1

2009-10-07T19:58:00.005-05:00

First I would like to thank you for the donations for Dania. We don’t know who you are but you will never know what it means to us and how much we truly appreciate it!!!

Okay, Roxana......actually it started when we went to go get Lica. When searching for Licas birth parents, which we had to do in order to adopt her, we found her grandmother. What the process was back then is that you put an add, yes a add, in the newspaper for the birth parents. If they do not come forward then the child is claimed an orphan. In the process the orphanage told us where the grandmother lived. Ken traveled to where she lived and talked with her asking if she knew where we might find Licas parents. There was a little girl standing next to the grandmother holding tightly to the grandmother’s dress. She looked just like Lica so Ken asked who she was. It was Licas older sister. We thought of adopting her also along with Lica but she so attached to each other that we decided not to. While other people on the streets were trying to sell their kids to us, the grandmother never even mentioned to us in adopted both children. We knew that they had each other and could not imagine separating them. Even though they were dirt poor, they seemed well fed, content and happy. They had a roof over their heads, food, and most importantly each other. So we left it alone but never forgot. In fact in was in our minds and hearts for years. Then in 1997 Ken flew over to Romania for one of our new family members wedding. While he was there we decided to make the 3 hour ride to the grandmothers to see how they were doing. We had concerns if the grandmother was still living and if not what happened to Loradana, Licas sister. If they needed anything, or if it would be possible at this time to adopt her if she wanted or the grandmother wanted. Sadly we found out through the grandmother that the mother returned after many years to sell Loradana for a pair gold earrings to "some man in a big car". We knew what that meant so Ken proceeded to bring one of our new family members to the, lets say, bad part of town! Mircea, needless to say, did not want to go with Ken and really tried talking Ken out of this. He told us that this is not a part of town even Romanians go to. But Ken prevailed and they went looking for Loradana or someone that might know about her. In Romania it is VERY difficult to find someone, especially a Gypsy! But Ken and Mircea looked for days anyway. We never did find her and Ken came home heart broken. To this day we wonder if we should have taken her when we had the chance to. It was much harder on Ken because he saw little Loradana and remembers her face. I still believe that I could have never split her and her grandmother up. An orphan is one thing but splitting up a family I just couldn’t do unless that is what everybody thought would be the best. And at the time Loradana and the grandmother did not want to be split up.
Once Ken came home we thought about things and decided to go get another gypsy from the same orphanage that Lica was in. We wanted Lica and our new daughter to have some things in common so that is why we went for a child from the same orphanage. No one was allowed in the orphanages without special papers. We knew we could get in because every time we traveled to Romania we brought duffle bags and suitcases full of donations to Licas orphanage. I worked in a hospital at that time and received many donations of clean needles, medicine; first aid kits to you name it. We also sent cloths for both the children and the caregivers. We had a special connection with the director and the caregivers.
So Ken traveled once again to the place our Lica came from. They were so happy to see Ken and told him that "only you Ken Fritz would come for another gypsy!!!!" Funny! They had three little gypsy girls, 1yr old twins and a 2yr old. After much thought we figured that the twins would have a better chance of being adopted because they were younger and a lot of people like the ideal of twins. So we went for the 2yr old. It took us a year and many trips to bring her home, but so worth it.
When Ken first met Roc she was very lethargic and delayed but we knew this was from being institutionalized. The benefit we had was that they liked us and knew we would be back for her so they worked with her. For 1 yr while we were trying to bring her home they worked with her. After raising a child that had nothing for her first five years we knew the importance of this!
Roc is so different than Lica!! When I tell you about the "naughty" things Lica has done, she just thinks its funny and loves reading anything about herself. When I tell you about Roc, well she is pretty much a typical 14 yr old and doesn’t really appreciate me blogging about her "naughty" things!!!! But to be as honest as I can be and to let other adopted parents and future adopted parents know, that some kids can be very, very, very difficult. Roc was one of these kids! I had many nights were I would cry myself to sleep! I cant tell you everything because Roc does not want me to and that is fine with me. Other things she said I could blog about because it just may help someone out there.
Roxana was not only a handful but 10 handfuls! The kid did not sleep. And Im not just talking about the first few months, or the first year, but for about 3 years. She slept around 3 hours a day! At first the doctors told us, well if she is not tired during the day its just the kind of child she is. WHAT?!?! I should have known I was in trouble when in first grade she forged my name to go to some field trip that I told her she could not go to for a consequence of something she did the day before. The teacher called me to tell me this and sent home the signature she had done. I explained to Roc that if she is going to forge my name in the future she should at least get the spelling correct. Its Nance not Nancy!!!! Then another doctor said she had ADHD and prescribed ritalin, which lasted about 2 weeks. I hated the way it changed her personality. After doing my own research I knew that she could sit and watch a movie, sit and eat supper without any problems and sit and do projects that interested her without any problems. So off the pills we went. It was, she was hard. Never physically mean to anybody or anything just into everything! Her mind would never let her think of the consequence of anything. She would lie about the silliest things and about everything, she horded food for years and years never did any school work and lots more that she wants to keep between herself and her family. Then when she was around 8 or 9 I brought her to a psychologist for her to talk with. I told her I could leave the room or stay with her. It was just a outlet I thought she might need. Well after a couple of months she had convinced the doctor that she had OCD. She told the doctor detailed things in her life that she needed to do to get through the day. I wasn’t sure because I never saw her doing these things and Ken was absolutely sure she was lying. It brought some tension between Ken and I because I thought no way would she lie to a doctor and get medicine to help her if nothing was really wrong with her. Well before we started her on the medication I had to make sure for myself. One of the many things she said she was doing was 12 jumping jacks first thing when she woke up. It had to be right away in the morning before she even left her room. So, sneaky mom that I am, I went into Licas room, right across from Rocs room, early in the morning before anyone was awake to see what exactly Roc was doing first thing she woke! I watched her for a good 20 min before she headed upstairs to eat breakfast. Once she realized I was following her upstairs and that she was busted she tried to pretend nothing was wrong. I asked her if she wanted me to do the twelve jumping jacks with her or if she wanted to wait till after breakfast. (I know, mean mom!!!) She broke down and it came out that she knew something was wrong with her and she thought taking some kind of pill would make her better. After explaining to her that NOTHING was wrong with her and that she could have done some serious damage to her body taking medication that she did not need she calmed down. On that day I realized 2 very important things and both Roc taught me! One, Roc was Roc. No matter what she did or did not do, it was who Roc was. If I were to accept this child I would have to change me, not her! Second, If she could convince a doctor that she had OCD it would be a slim to none chance that I would ever believe what a doctor has to say about any of my kids! Not saying I wouldn’t take advice from them. I just would realize that no matter what they say, Ken and I know are kids best!!!! I don’t believe in labeling kids. That’s just my opinion and how I feel on the subject. Roc has taught me so much about myself through many a sleepless night and through many many tears. There were times when we thought there is no way we can help this kid and she is to much for us! But we never gave up on her or ourselves and Im so glad we didn’t!!!

Lica - Part 2

2009-10-03T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is for Tara! - So remember, Ken was gone for three months getting Lica. No email and phone calls were very limited! There was once when we went 2 weeks without talking and me not knowing what was going on. Lets just say I was going CRAZY! We just about lost our house because my paychecks were not enough to cover the mortgage. I ended up driving with my dad to New York to pick Ken and Lica up because the gas money was cheaper than the airline ticket. I swore I would never adopt again. But I suppose like childbirth, the pain of it all fades.
So when I first met Lica in New York she didn't trust or like anyone but Ken. Of course she didn't, thats all she knew. She didn't speak any language and only understood simple "commands" that she heard from the caregivers. She walked like a baby just learning to walk even though she was almost 5. She liked to bite and have her way. We stopped for breakfast on our drive home and we ordered her scrambled eggs and toast. She picked up bits and pieces and threw them on the floor. Thats what she knew. The only thing she liked was opa (water) and brea (bread)! No butter, peanut butter nothing. She was very much into her "own" world. But she was home! When she woke up in the morning she would just lay in bed not knowing she could get up. She was so used to laying and doing nothing she just didn't get it. In the orphanage they would sit all the kids on pots to go potty at around 10am and so for many many years she would not go to the bathroom when she woke up. We even put a little potty chair in her room and let her know she could use it any time she needed. Since she was afraid of the toilet at first this seemed to work for other times in the day. Once her fear of the toilet was gone she became fascinated with it. How it worked, why it worked, everything about it and would spend hours trying to figure it out. She had to smell everything before she ate it and she didn't like human touch. She NEVER cried, even when in pain. Again, its all she knew. Once when she was about 10 or 11 she had strep throat and never told us she didn't feel well. We didn't realize it until she was throwing up all over the place with a fever of 104. She still did not complain and wanted to go to school! Emotions of any kind were unheard of in her world. She slowly warmed up to the ideal of someone tickling her back and arms softly and LOVED it! For the first couple of months we treated her as if she were a baby. We would rock her and sing to her at night with a bottle hoping this would give her some things she had missed. The bottle only worked for a few nights as she would look at us like we were NUTS! She didn't want anything to do with that. She loved the rocking and singing though.
When she was not with us, like at school or grandmas, she would act out. We would get calls from kindercare telling us that she had locked herself in the bathroom and was playing in the water. She would try biting the teacher all the time. She hated that place because I think it reminded her of the orphanage. A group of kids all in one place. She lasted there about 2 weeks.
We fought with the school district all 12 years she was there trying to get her what she needed. She didn't fit into any "group". She was tested for autism but the conclusion was she did not have that. The University of Minnesota saw her for at least the first 4 years of her life and when she went in one of her last visits they were amazed because of her head growth. I guess when your that age you head does not grow. Hers did. She was crammed with so much in her first year and learned so much it is unbelievable. She was a baby in a 5yr old body. She graduated with her class and I think, I know, that Ken, grandpa and myself were beyond happy. We had worked with this girl day and night. We would easily stay up until wee hours of the night with her trying to explain her homework to her. I mean think of it, when doing lets say history with her we would have to explain what the word history meant before we could even start the lesson. We had to explain words to her every word. She was good at spelling and math. Spelling and math is black and white. Her world is black and white. You can SEE math. She has always been good with numbers and memory. She knows everybody's birthday. And when I say everybody I mean the cashier at the grocery store. She always would ask people when their birthday was. She puts names on my calender of birthdays to help me remember. There was some names on their of people I didn't know. I asked her who is this? She then proceeded to tell me it was someone I had worked with years ago. To Funny! She knows what day your birthday will fall on and what day it was on last year and what day it will be next year. Without even thinking! I don't know how she does it. The only explanation of how her mind works was giving to us by the U of M. Most people think from A to B to C to D. Part of Licas brain was not used the first 5 yrs of her life so it shut off. She thinks from B to A to D to C so it takes longer for her to get the answer. But she usually does get the answer.
One of the many things I love about Lica is her pureness. She looks and treats everyone the same. No one is different. And everyone remembers her and loves her. We cannot go anyplace without someone saying hi to her. From teachers, to teachers aids, to cheerleaders, football players, the "nerds" from school, SN kids, valedictorian to the people she works with now. Everyone just loves this kid! I picked my 7yr old up from school this past week and Lica came with. She saw the principle standing in front of the building. She got out of the car to say hi to him and he gave her a big hug and asked her what she was up to. How many people can say that their grade school principle would do that? Not me. And the thing is that this is how all the people she meets treat her.
Lica has turned out to be one Great, Smart, Loving, Careing, Hard Working, People Loving, Animal Loving, Jesus Loving, Hug Giver and Hug Taker young lady. She has worked enormously hard to get to where she is today and the world is hers for the taking.

Two Girls Who Want A Family

2009-10-02T17:59:00.004-05:00

These two girls who are now 3 and 11 are looking for a home, a family. Please help get the word out for these two beauties!!! The older girl, Sabine is very close to her younger sister Daphka. Time could run out for Sabine because of her age and they may split the girls up to give Daphka a better chance at being adopted. You can get more information from Mindy at A Love Beyond Borders.

Please keep these girls in your prayers!!!

Thanks

Child ID: LBB-HSLCS10D2
Gender: Girl
Age: 2
Gender: Girl
Age: 10
Country: Haiti
Description: These two beautiful little girls are living in Haiti and waiting for their forever family. We know it will be difficult to place two children, especially so different in age. But we do believe the right family is out there. They are currently in the process of having all of their medical testing completed. Those results will be available soon. We have more pictures of these little ones for interested families.
Each trip to Haiti always leaves me with at least one experience that changes me forever. On my most recent trip it was meeting these two children. These little girls are sisters. I spoke at length with the older of the two girls, with the help of a translator, to see if she really understood what being adopted means. I wanted to be sure that she understood and wanted this for herself because of her age. She assured me that she did want to be adopted, and her biggest concern was making sure that her little sister was safe and well cared for. She has made the decision to be adopted, not out of a dream for a better future for herself, but out of the love of wanting to be with her little sister. She shared how she helped to get her sister dressed to come to the orphanage the day we met her. I don't think she understood my tears, but she certainly understood my promise to her to do all I could do to find her and her sister their forever family. These little girls have been raised in a Christian family, and therefore we are seeking a family that will continue taking them to church and celebrate their beliefs.
For more information, please contact:
A Love Beyond Borders
2022 Hudson Street Suite 100-B
Denver, CO 80207
Phone: 303-333-1572
Email: haiti@bbinternationaladoption.com

Fundraising,Employment and the Cost of International Adoption

2009-09-25T15:19:00.002-05:00

Okay, its time to really start the fundraising! We have a garage sale scheduled for the 15th through the 18th. We will be selling bracelets, well, Roc will be selling bracelets and I'm sewing some quilts and matching pillow cases to post on the blog for donations.

I FINALLY found a part time job and start next week. I work full time at a big health insurance company, but with the economy the way it is, things are not looking so hot. Kinda scary when they all ready had 3 big layoffs in the past year. But at least Ive been promised a position till the end of the year. After that, its all up in the air. Ill take till the end of the year though and hope for the best after that. Hey, every dollar helps bring Dania home quicker!!! Well every dollar left after feeding the six chow hounds I have living with me........man they like to eat! a lot!!! Good thing I have a big garden and they love everything in it!

With our past adoptions we never fundraised or asked for donations. Its kinda weird and humbling to ask and then receive. I feel so "bad" when someone gives us money. We had a garage sale earlier in the year, and when people paid for their items plus donated an extra 5 or 10 for our cause, I felt both appreciative and that we should be able to do this ourselves. But the reality is, we are still paying off our last adoption. That adoption cost us more because we had to pay an agency a lot of money to do, well to do.....I'm going to just leave it at that. Its only been 10 months since our four kiddos from South America have been home. So why adopt so soon after your last one? Well, we met a 14 year old sweet heart in South America that we knew we would try to bring home. But after 10 months of trying, we were told she cannot be adopted. She has a mother that visits her every now and again (long story) and that puts a hold on her availability. Both her and our family were devastated but promised to help her get a visa when she turns 18 to come here if she wants. Then we found Dania and the rest is what they say, history. No turning back. You have to admit, she is pretty darn CUTE! The cost of international adoption, even after 3 under my belt, amazes me. I always find myself asking why on earth when their are so many orphans the cost should be so much. I guess I have just come to accept it. Ken, not so much! The kids are all excited and helping out sooooo much and I'm proud of them for the way they talk about this experience and the love they have for orphans. Even Charley, our four year old, when looking at a photo of Dania says, oh ma (yes ma, it started out with mama, then mom, and now just ma.....ugh!!!!) oh ma there is my friend! I tell him that is your sister. He then tells me yes I know but she is my friend too! To cute. Man I LOVE my kids!!!!