We have Visas and will be on our way home tomorrow!

           I know that I am long past an update, however blogging and journaling have never been one of my strong suits, for that I apologize. Nonetheless, I do have a lot to update everyone on. Once Fran and Rita left I was left up to my own devices to find entertainment, thankfully Bill and the youth group at church, Don’s movies, and Inna and Lena kept me from being bored.

I spent most of my final days shopping for stuff for the kids (thanks to Inna’s help, she made it soooooo much easier), visiting the kids at the orphanage, getting my fill of Ukrainian candy, and having tea with Inna and Lena. I could not have asked for a better way to end my journey.

Our 10 day waiting period was up on Monday the 15^th, so Tuesday the 16^th set in motion the mad dash for the finish line. For me it was a hair pulling day, Victor, Roman, and I spent all of Tuesday morning running around Berdyansk. From the  court house to the bank to the court house to vital statistics to the apartment to the inspectors office to the orphanage to the inspectors office to vital statistics and finally back to the orphanage to pick up the kids. By the time we hit the orphanage I was exhausted. But I must say that I was very proud of the kids, they walked away from the orphanage with their heads held high and never shed a tear. They said good bye to a few of their friends and bravely marched into the unknown…I must say that they are braver than I will probably ever be. We then made our trek to Zap (I would spell out the entire name, but I would only butcher it), Taiya was asleep after 15 minutes in the car and Jacob sat wedged between the 2 front seats…he never missed a turn.

We hit Zap around 3:30 and we got our passports and were at the train station with about 30 minutes to spare. I was worried that we were not going to make the train, but Victor never wavered and just as he had promised we were on the train Tuesday night to Kiev.

The kids absolutely LOVED the train ride. They were thrilled that we had bunk beds and were excited that they got to sleep on the top bunk. We made everyone’s bed, took a ton of pictures and settled down for the night with tea and cookies. Taiya settled down pretty early and was passed out asleep by 9, Jacob on the other hand was still in awe. He sat until well after 11 with his face pressed to the glass of the train window. The two of us sat for a long time and just looked out of the window, he kept saying “WOW” and giving me the thumbs up and smiling and every train station that we pulled into he would say “Mama, Kiev?” “Mama, Kiev?” I finally showed him my watch and told him what time we would be in Kiev. About 1:30 Jacob decided that sleeping on the top bunk was no longer that much fun and he was afraid that he would fall out, so he and Victor switched places.

We got to Kiev around 6ish and made our way to the apartment and chilled out and watched TV for a couple of hours before we headed out for Breakfast and to make our way to the U.S. Embassy and to the kids’ medical appointments. Everything there went without a hitch, except I got a lecture from the Doctor about parenting, I got worried that she was not going to let the kids go, but Victor said everyone gets that lecture from her. Nonetheless I was relieved to get her stamp of approval.

Then we headed to the grocery store to stock up on some snacks for the apartment and the trip. Jacob was in utter awe at it all, I do not think that either one of the kids have ever been in a grocery store that large before, and Jacob wanted everything in sight. If he thinks that store was big, wait til he sees a Super Wal-Mart! We then went back to the apartment and hung out til dinner time. After dinner we settled into a movie and bed.

Today we went shopping and went back to the Embassy to pick up the Visas!!! I have never been so relieved in all of my life. The woman at the counter said that I could finally go home, I don’t think any words could have been sweeter. So tomorrow at 6 we will begin our trek home. We leave Kiev and fly to Zurich, then from Zurich to New York, and finally from New York to home. I can’t wait. Seeing Dave, my parents, and my family and friends will be an awesome feeling. I love to travel and to see the world, but I am ready to be home.

Hopefully within the next couple days I will write about our journey home. Until next time…

At long last...

After a long and emotionally exhausting week, we are now the proud parents of Taiya and Jacob. Today Taiya essentially skipped into the court room, all smiles, and happily (although cautiously) said yes to being adopted. Today was an emotional climax for both Dave and I, after sitting on pins and needles all week, we were finally able to exhale a sigh of relief. 

            I must apologize for not updating the blog this week; however I could not find it in my heart to write. I generally have no issues with coming up with anything to say, however after last Friday I have been at a total loss for words. Dave, Viktor, and I decided to tackle this week with a vengeance, and spent a lot of dedicated time with just our kids, something that we probably should have done from the beginning, at least with one half of our duo. We tried to reassure them in every way that we knew how. I downloaded pictures of friends and their children, and other adopted children and their parents (and for those of you whose pictures I used I really thank you), I downloaded pictures of the beach, Busch Gardens, Water Country, family, and everything that I could think of, to try and show Taiya that we were not trying to steal her away from everything that she has known only to put her in a place of isolation with no friends and no family. We did the best that we could do to try and convince her, that although this would be scary, it would not be something that she would ever regret doing. Viktor spoke to their teachers and they were able to help us encourage Taiya that this was the right decision, and in the end she made the decision for her and her brother. The court didn’t force it upon her.

            Although I am absolutely dreading being here the extra week, in the long run it may be for the best. It proves to her that we love her and stood by her unconditionally and that we did not leave her…even if she made a decision that we didn’t agree with. Hopefully a few years from now we will be able to look back and laugh…but right now only tears roll down my face because I have to wait 2 more weeks before I can go home. It wouldn’t be so bad, except the last 6 days I will be completely by myself…no Dave, no Fran, and no Viktor. Luckily I have befriended Inna who works here at the church and the guy that runs the movie store on the corner knows that when I come in I need movies that are in English, I also have 3 and half more books to finish. However, the apartment is entirely too quiet so I am not sure whether or not I will be able to get them finished before I get back, but at least I have read 5 of the 11 books that I brought, and I am half way through Dr. Seuss’ biography (which by the way is absolutely fantastic if anyone is looking for a book to read).

            I would be lying if I said that today was not an emotional high and low. Today we got what we have been working toward for the last year…the kids, but I also said goodbye to Dave. Which is really rather funny, because most days I am willing to happily shoo his butt out of the door, but the last month together has been really great and I really hated to say goodbye to him today, that and I was jealous that he gets to sleep in his own bed on Saturday night. But he left promising to have the house in order when I got home (Alisha please make sure that he cleans the bathrooms like he promised), but it still didn’t make it any easier to say goodbye.

            I have focused a lot of attention on Taiya and Dave and I, but least I forget Jacob. He has been a real trooper through all of this, his loyalty and trust have never faded and he has been looking forward to coming home since day one. Every “aeroplane” that he sees (be it in the sky or in a book), he points to all of us and says “aeroplane to America”. Poor kid I think that he is more excited than I am about going home. He is going to have such a blast and I can’t wait to see him grow. He finds life adventurous and funny and when he laughs everyone laughs with him…you can’t help it, his laugh is contagious and I can’t wait for my mom to hear him laugh, she will get so tickled.

            We took him and Taiya bowling for the first time this week, and Jacob jumped in with both feet and threw is bowling ball down the lane with abandon, but that is how Jacob tackles everything…with trust that everything will be alright. Taiya on the other hand sat back and watched to see how the game was played, she wanted to see if it was going to be fun, and she wanted see if she could do it. Once she discovered that we were all making fools of our self she jumped up and started playing too, realizing that it was fun and that she could have fun doing it. But this is how she approaches everything…with caution. For the record though I would like to state that I did beat Dave in bowling, this is only the second time in nearly 13 years that I have ever beat him at anything. The first time was at darts some 11 years ago.

            On a lighter side, after we bid Dave and Viktor farewell this afternoon, Fran and I took a ride out to Mel’s house with Don and Inna. Mel’s house is one of the group homes that Heart for Orphans has set up, and it was an amazing experience. They have 21 teenagers living there, 14 boys, 7 girls, and 2 house parents, and they are completely self contained, from chickens and roosters to pigs and vegetables. I was very impressed with how the house was run, the boys were welcoming and enthusiastic, they fixed us tea and sat down at the kitchen table with us and were eager to talk with us. All of the kids are in some sort of trade school and were learning life skills that would make them a productive member of society. It was really cool to see how these group homes have positively affected these kids.   

            Tomorrow Don is taking Fran, Inna, and I out to the peninsula for the afternoon. Fran and I are both looking forward to a day away from the monotony that we have settled into. In the morning I will be traveling to the orphanage for a couple of hours and Fran will be taking the newest addition to their family, Rita, downtown for a little shopping.

            Finally, I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and the prayers, they are greatly appreciated and much needed. Now just pray for our safe return and a wonderful beginning to the holiday season.

            Until next time…

Not so hot news...

Sorry that I have not written to give everyone an update on what happened in court, however Dave and are still reeling from the outcome. Many of you may have already heard, but if not here is an update.

            We got up early on Friday morning and made the trek to the courthouse, the kids were already there and they were bright, smiling, laughing, and drawing pictures. We sat with them for a few minutes and then we headed into the courtroom. Everything was going well, the inspector sang our praises, the orphanage’s attorney did too, we answered some questions for the court and then they called in the kids. Jacob was very enthusiastic and eager to be adopted and said yes without batting an eye, Taiya on the other hand was a completely different story. She broke down into tears and just sobbed that she didn’t want to be adopted. The court asked Jacob if he knew what was wrong and why she had changed her mind, and he did not have a clue, poor kid he was dumbstruck. He just looked at Taiya as if to say, “are you serious?” The court was unable to get Taiya to explain why she did not want to be adopted, so the kids were escorted out of the room, of course Dave and I were devastated, it felt like we had been hit by a truck. The attorney, the assistant district attorney, the inspector, and Viktor were flabbergasted, none of them expected this, and frankly neither did we. The judge rescheduled the court date for Friday November 5^th, and gave us the week to come to the root of Taiya’s issue.

            After court we were able to see the kids, Jacob hugged us, but Taiya would not even look at us and when she did she just sobbed and sobbed, poor thing I really think that she is torn between two worlds. She wants to be with us, but doesn’t want to leave her safety zone.           

Dave and I were emotionally distraught and were really unsure as to how to proceed from there or what we needed to do. The inspector and the orphanage’s attorney said that we did not have anything to worry about and that the judge would rule in the best interest of the children, but Dave and I can’t help but worry that things will turn out in our favor…it is going to make for a very stressful week. So say a prayer and keep your fingers crossed that everything will turn out fine, and Taiya will change her mind and the judge will rule in our favor.

            Once the kids back to the orphanage they were able to discover some of Taiya’s issues, one was rather disturbing, which I won’t go into over the blog, but the other two were certainly understandable. She said that there were so many people in the court room (10 not including the kids) and that she got scared, and the second reason is that her friends did not want her to leave them. Taiya is a very social child and has a lot of friends, so I can see why that would be intimidating. So we have decided to spend a lot of time with the kids this week with just them and no one else. Make them begin to trust us more and let them know that we want them to come home with us and be a part of our family.

            On a good note, Taiya wanted to see us after the court, although I think that she thought that we would be upset with her. Jacob is always glad to see and always wants to spend time with us, I must admit that I do feel sorry for him, he is so excited about riding on a plane and going to America and I think that he was truly upset and hurt that Taiya said no. I also think that he did not think that we would come back to see them once court was over, and let me tell you that was one excited boy when he saw us Friday after court and on Saturday afternoon. All we can do from here is to continue to build our relationship with the kids this week and hope for the best on Friday, that Taiya will willing change her mind and that the judge will rule in our favor.

            On a good note, the Rahns court hearing went extremely well and they have begun their 10 day count down, Rita Rose Rahn will soon be the newest member of their family and I am so happy for them. Well until next time…

Yahooooooo!!!!! We have a court date...

     YAHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! We have a court date! Dave and I go to court on Friday October 29^th at 8:30, now of course this is pending that our paperwork at the SDA is ready to be picked up Wednesday afternoon so Viktor can catch the bus or train back to Berdyansk to be here in time for court. So far it has been fairly smooth sailing so everyone keep their fingers crossed for calm waters. Since we have court on a Friday Dave and Rick would not be able to fill out their paperwork at the embassy until the following Monday, so Dave and Rick decided to go to Kiev a week early and fill out their paperwork, that way once court is complete they can catch the next train back to Kiev and the next plane back home. So when Dave and Rick leave Monday evening (the train back to Kiev is an overnighter), I am going to go and have a sleepover with Fran and Kola for two nights, and Rick and Dave will be back on Wednesday morning.

     Once the court date is complete Fran and I will play the sit and wait game for 10 days. It will be like ground hog day, but each day that passes is a day closer to coming home. Well that is all of the good news for now, stay tuned for updates and more pictures. Until next time…

Tai's Birthday

     Tai’s birthday was yesterday and we decided to throw her a party with her 4^th grade class. Dave and I brought in cake, cookies, Capri Suns, and bananas, and the kids had a blast. The kids sang Tai happy birthday and instead of spankings they teachers pulls their ears to help them grow and instead of gifts her classmates give her compliments (what a cool idea). Over the past 2 weeks she has been asking for shoes (which poor thing she needed, her little toes were crammed into the ones that she had), so we got her new tennis shoes and a Barbie for her birthday. So as not to leave Jacob out, we got him a small set of legos, of which he, Dave, and about 3 other boys settled in to put together the lego set. Fran and Rick gave her a really cool book that helps kids learn how to speak English, so Tai piled in my lap and we started working our way through the book. Tai is eager to learn and reads really well, she can read English, however she has obviously not mastered the comprehension part yet. Jacob is the typical boy and shows no interest in sitting down to learn anything, much less English…unless it suits something that he wants or needs.

     Dave has been getting daily Russian lessons from the kids in Tai and Jacob’s class, they are so funny they pile in all around him and point to different words in the dictionary and they get Dave to say them. He does not do half bad, all the kids think that it is funny, plus he is teaching them a bit of English too, tit for tat, he says a word in Russian and they say a word in English. At some points during the day Dave will have 6 or 8 kids surrounding him to play this little game. I wish that we could take a few more home with us, there are a couple of really nice, sweet, and cute kids here that could desperately use a good home. So if anyone knows anybody who is interested please let us know, we can help you out with that.

     After we left the orphanage, we went over to Fran and Ricks and celebrated Rick’s birthday, it was very nice to sit down and have dinner and dessert with everyone. Viktor came over as well as 2 missionaries from the church where Rick and Fran were staying. It was really nice to have some other company other than our own.

     Not a lot has been going on this week, we have been making our daily trips to the market and to the orphanage, and Viktor has been running around like a chicken with his head cut off to get both sets of paperwork complete. We are hoping to find out when our court date is today, the court date will essentially dictate the rest of our stay here, so keep your fingers crossed for a date as soon as possible so that we can come home soon. Well that is all for now, until next time…

A bit of catching up to do...

     We have been rather busy since my last update. On Friday Dave and I met up with Fran, Rick, and Kola, we actually caught up with them at the orphanage and they had the opportunity to meet our kids and we had the opportunity to meet Rita. She is a quiet but beautiful girl; I think that she will make a wonderful addition to the Rahn household. On Friday we spent another day outside, we played soccer and basketball again, had a snack, and just enjoyed each other’s company. These two are full of energy, for the 3 hours that we were there with them they went full steam ahead the entire time. I think that when we get home I am going to try and figure out a way to bottle up their energy and sell it; we could make a pretty penny off of it.

     On Friday we also determined what the names of the kids are going to be and how they will appear on their new birth certificates. Yakiv will be Jacob David Robertson, yes everyone there will be another David in the world, however I am not sure that I can handle two of them. Currently Jacob goes by the name Yashi, it is his nickname sort of like the Russian version of Jake. Tai’s name is going to be Taisiya Renee Robertson, her first name is pronounced Tie e see ya, but she goes by the nickname Tai (Tie ya). Dave and I tried to come up with another name for her, with thought about Teresa or Trisha, something that was similar to her name but different than her own, but we kept coming back to her original name. It is different and original, so we just changed the spelling from Russian to English and gave her my middle name.

     Saturday was much of the same, Dave and I slept in Saturday morning, spent the morning and early part of the afternoon being lazy. We went to the orphanage in the afternoon, and when we got there, we discovered that we were playing soccer again except this time Tai had assembled an entire team. When all was said and done there were about 8 kids and the 3 of us, Viktor included, we played soccer and volleyball until their happy heart’s content. We also had our first melt down of sorts, or rather a mix up in communication, Yashi and Tai have fallen in love with chewing gum. The only problem is that when the flavor is gone they spit it out and immediately want another piece, and on Saturday Dave told them no, that they could have another piece later…well that did not satisfy them and they got upset. Fortunately it only lasted about 20 minutes and with Viktor’s help they got over it. As a reward we gave them each a piece right before we left, I guess that when you never get chewing gum, it is quite the commodity when you do. Guess I know what to ask Santa for as stocking stuffers…

     Sunday I got up and made the daily trip to the market, we picked up a couple of small puzzles and a board game to play. Dave’s ankle needed a break so we decided to keep the kids inside, so we spent the day working puzzles, coloring, drawing, and playing a game similar to America’s Shoots and Ladders. The kids also discovered Dave’s lemonade in the backback, so Dave gave them his lemonade (he had put 2 of the crysal light lemonade packet in his water to make it extra tart, which is the way that he likes it). We fully expected to get the bitter sour face that most people get when consuming something that sour…nope not our kids, they loved it and drank the entire 20 oz bottle and asked for more. But I would rather it be crystal light lemonade than Coke or Pepsi.

     Today (Monday) we were up and at ‘em early. Viktor needed us to fill out some paperwork, hit the bank, the court house, and several other places. So we did not make it to the orphanage today, I know that the kids will be disappointed, but after all of the running around that we have done we are exhausted, and we want to make sure that the kids will have all of our energy and attention when we see them. So needless to say we will make it up to them tomorrow. We did get some of the paperwork started to get the kids passports, our Interpol checks have already come back and we have been cleared through them, and the committee meets tomorrow to determine if they will split up the family. Tai and Yashi are 2 of 7 children, and before anyone asks NO we are not coming home with all 7. They have 2 siblings that have aged out of the orphanage, 1 that is in another orphanage, then Tai and Yashi are numbers 4 and 5, and then they have 2 younger siblings that are still with their mother. The committee must meet to determine whether or not they will split Tai and Yashi up from the rest of the family, however considering the circumstances Viktor, nor the director of the orphanage think that it will be a problem. So things are moving along rather quickly, keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for a speedy process.

Well that is all for now, I will keep everyone up to speed as new information becomes available.

Love,

Dave, Heather, Tai, and Yashi

A day of running around and soccer!

Sorry that it has been a couple of days since I have written. We ran around like mad men yesterday trying to get paperwork notarized and filed with the appropriate individuals and since we do not have internet in our apartment it has been difficult to log on and keep everyone updated. We met the kids for the first on Wednesday and I am not sure who was more nervous...us or them, but once the formality of the meeting was over all of us settled down. When we left the orphanage Wednesday night Dave and I both said that we hope that they do not change their minds and we both agreed that we were more nervous about going back on Thursday than we were to meet them on Wednesday. After the morning and part of the afternoon was spent running around we went to the orphanage about 3 and all nervousness disappeared when we walked through the orphanage doors and Yakiv was yelling Papa and waving his arms emphatically before he bagan barreling down the hallway at full speed, he almost knocked over Dave, I am not sure who was more excited us or him. Yakiv led us upstairs, where they were having some sort of celebrations in which is and Taisiya were participating, they were excited to have us there and showed us off to everyone. When we were done there, we went back downstairs and showed the kids more pictures, had a snack, and then went outside for over an hour and played basketball and soccer...it felt really good to see the two of them smile. We played soccer, girls against the boys, with Viktor as the Keeper...and of course the girls won! It really felt good to play for no real reason at all except to play, I think that we as adults forget how to do that.

Taiya learned very quickly how to operate the camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING, we got photographs of everything from all of their friends to the sky (thank goodness for a digital camera!), but as long as they had fun that is all that matters. The tow of them have already started picking up on some English. On our first day there Taiya and Yakiv both showed us that they could count to ten in English and knew some other words like mother, father, brother, sister. But yesterday they picked up on thank you, your welcome, good bye, and tomorrow (I wish that I could pick up on Russian that quickly, I have only learned to say yes, no, hello and thank you). Rick, Fran, and Kola will be here around lunch time today and I am assuming that we will be headed to the orphanage sometime this afternoon. Can't wait to see what this afternon holds!

On the funnier side of things, there have been several new additions to the lessons that I have learned so far on this journey...coffee here is really gross, oh how I long for a cup of starbucks, the food has been fantastic and if Viktor keeps feeding me like he has been I will not be able to fit on the airplane for the ride home. I also know European women do not shave their legs...it is a pain in the neck to attempt to shave your legs in these showers! I think that I may need to take a weed wacker to my legs when I get home! Things here are also alot cheaper than they are back home, I am eyeing a new pair of Copa's, they are only $50 bucks here!
Well I think that is all for now, until next time!