More Than Space

After a busy day of pillow fights, games if Sequence and Uno, jostling for time on Mama's lap, and a host of other things... the last drink of water has been served, and my Benjamin whispers to me, "I love you Mama. More than space. Higher than heaven."

Such a rich reward for giving your all to children who really need a Mama and a Papa. This is why we did it once. This is why we're doing it again. Thank you, Lord, for the reminder!

We had a successful last visit to the American Embassy here in Kiev. I now have the visas that allow Anna and Chris to travel to the U.S. and become American citizens as soon as they set foot on American soil.

Everything is done! We just have to wait until Sunday and then travel home.

Anna, Chris and Ben have become great friends and it is wonderful to see them laugh and play together. There are lots of miscommunications and misunderstandings but that is to be expected and they are learning how to be a family more and more every day.

I was coaxed into bring them to the park today even though it was wet after the rain. Sure enough we came home with muddy pants and jackets. Oh well. I'm learning that certain things don't matter as much as other things.

Anna asked to go to McDonald's again, so we went. A challenging event when you have 3 children in tow and the seating is very limited in a crowded restaurant. We managed ok, although Ben lobbied hard to get a toy that was different than the black car that he got the last time. I told him it was too difficult for me to ask about that when I was doing everything else. Sure enough, he got a black car. So, with my permission, he went to the counter when there was no line and asked for a "drugoya" (different) toy. He then pointed wildly to the case of toys that was not visible to the girl behind the counter, and I realized he was making a scene. I helped him out and he got a different toy. He was quite satisfied. These are the things that matter to kids!

Now they are all asleep and I'm thankful for a few moments to myself. :-) Below are photos from the last few days. Hope you enjoy them.

Blessings to all!

Back to Kiev Tomorrow

Zhenia was able to obtain the children's passports on Friday. (3 days is very fast...sometimes it is a 3 week wait to get them.) So we are ahead of schedule to leave on the 31st.

Today we bought a set of clothes for Anna and Chris. We tried to find boots for Anna in a number of shops, but each store only has one or two sizes in stock. Marina, the director of the orphanage, told us that we may take the boots she wears now. She also gave Ben and I the coats we've been wearing from the orphanage. (We'll need them in Kiev.) They don't have a lot, but are so generous.

We asked Marina to give us a list of needs they have at their orphanage and she will provide that list before we leave.

Tomorrow the train departs at 8:50am for Kiev. We are all excited to go! I'm trying to pack but our things seem to have multiplied. :-) All of the kitchen items (plates, pots, and ingredients) will go to the orphanage, and the toys we've acquired will have to get stuffed in somehow.

We were told that the great grandfather of Anna and Chris will meet us at the train station to meet us and say good bye to the children. He is very happy that we are adopting them. We look forward to meeting him.

On the train, I am planning to ask Zhenia to go through all the "safety" teaching with the children. (Don't touch outlets, hold my hand when we're on the sidewalk/street, etc. ) We did this with Ben and it was very helpful.

Both Anna and Chris are happily anticipating the new adventure of living in America with the Baker family! I'm sure they don't quite know what to expect, but they're all smiles. :-)

I don't have many new pics but here are some you may like:

Traveling, Ben playing Sequence (a daily event) with Mama, and Ben holding the puppy:

A Trip to Kirovograd

We all piled in the van on Tuesday to make the required 1 hour trip to Kirovograd. This is where the central office for regional passports is located. Zhenia always seems to find ways to get us to the front of the line and he did so again on this day. That was good because the children were hungry by the time we were done.

We found a nice restaurant on the way home and we had the best borscht ever! This was rounded out with rolls, cabbage salad, chicken steaks, and fried potatoes and onions. Chris said, grinning, "This is the first time I have been to a restaurant!" (of course, in Ukrainian) I had to do some teaching about a fork and knife. :-)

The way home was fun. Ben and Anna laughed and played in the back seat while Chris just stared out the window in awe at everything going by. He was reciting his name, "Creestopher Baykor, Creestopher Baykor, " and learning new words like: field, wagon, and tractor.

We did not visit the orphanage the next day, as Ben and Anna both had a fever. Anna is in the hospital as per protocol (but just until tomorrow) and Ben is doing fine now... just has a minor cough. Zhenia suggested (and I agreed) to forego visiting Chris in the orphanage until we go to pick them up. Most of the kids there have this virus, I guess.

Saturday when I officially go to get Chris and Anna, we plan to have a little party for the other orphanage kids with juice and cookies, etc. It's a nice type of closure for all of them. We did this with Ben last year and it worked out well.

Today, with not much to do, we ventured outside so Ben could play on the playground and feed the outside cats. Right outside our building, a couple ladies were tending to a mama dog and her 4 week old pups (so cute)! They made a crate into a little house for them, and were kind enough to let Ben hold one. They asked what we were doing with the box of catfood. I don't think they realized what it was, even though there was a cat on the front of the box. (They usually feed the cats scraps) After I told them, they said, "Thank you!"

I, for one will be happy to go back to Kiev! Our hot water heater is on the fritz and I doubt it will be fixed before we leave. Alexandria is a nice little town with great people. It has really grown on us, but we all are ready to go.

See you soon!

Day 10 After the Court

Today is officially day 10 after the court proceedings. That means when we finish signing a variety of documents, the children will officially be ours! We will apply for their Ukrainian passports today as well. This takes about a week, and then we are on to Kiev.

Ben has enjoyed feeding the cats that live in the neighborhood. We bought some dry cat food for that purpose, and now it is his favorite thing to do! We are not alone in this endeavor, as we often see our neighbors bringing scraps for the cats and dogs.

Chris is better, but now Anna has a virus. (Along with most of the other orphanage children.) They could sure benefit from hand sanitizer here!

Giles is home now and will begin work again this week. We surely miss him, but are thankful for email and the telephone!

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers and emails. :-

Reunion of Favorite Friends

We just returned from Paltava after enjoying a reunion with Ben's doctors and nurses at the Children's Hospital. They greeted him (and us) with open arms, hugs and kisses. Such wonderful people! We feel indebted to them for caring so well for him, and they kept saying thank you to us for doing the same. It was surely a special time for all. Ben just kept laughing and running into his doctor's arms! The nurses gave him a big army helicopter with all the bells and whistles, (How will we get that home?) a puzzle and chocolate. One of the doctors had a daughter who could speak english well, so she came in and helped us out. We stayed for a few hours and, despite Ben's assurance that they were not busy, we left to go home. There was a restaurant nearby, so we stopped for pizza and juice. The ride home was uneventful and our driver, the pastor of the church, was great.

Zhenia is coming tonite and will have us do more paperwork tomorrow. We also hope to see both Anna and Chris.

Take care all!

Hello Everyone,

We have enjoyed some unusual experiences while biding our time here in Oleksandria.

There is a farmer-owned zoo about 30 minutes from town that we visited a few days ago. They had a variety of animals including huge boa constrictors, monkeys, chimpanzees, a skunk, a big cat, wolves, lions and even bears! We were told it was free of charge, but bananas and cookies would be a nice gesture to feed the animals. This was not like an American zoo!

What a great time! The monkeys screeched when they realized we had snacks and they all held out their hands! Ben was so excited to touch their fingers! The grizzly bears were in a cage that had a 4 foot pipe leading into it from where we were standing. We dropped the cookies down the pipe and the bears ate them up. Then they stood up and begged for more. I never realized how cute they are! (We were pretty close to them.) We saw the lions on the way out and they looked healthy and well fed. (Not quite sure what they feed them...)

Giles had a birthday on the 8th. I prayed that I could find an apple dessert for him (my oven doesn't work) and to our surprise, the orphanage ladies made him a special apple pie! They also sang Happy Birthday in english and many of the children and the pastor prayed for him. Anna and Ben gave him homemade cards. Giles said it was the best birthday ever!

We are planning to travel to Paltava on Tuesday to visit Ben's doctor and nurses that he is so fond of. The pastor of the local church here has a big van and he is willing to drive us. It's about a 3 hour trip each way so that will take the whole day.

Tomorrow we will do some clothes shopping for Chris and Anna. That may be a challenge, because we have to eyeball the sizes and make our best guess! We must get them some things to wear because upon leaving the orphanage, they have to leave all their clothes behind.

Take care everyone! And thanks so much for your emails!

A Successful Court Date !!

We had our court date appearance this morning, and as Giles' English cousins would say, everything went "swimmingly"! All documents were in order, and we had a very good judge who was favorably disposed towards us. After one hour in a 50 degree courtroom (no sweating here!), we got our decision--10 days from now, Anna and Chris officially become ours. Needless to say we are all overjoyed. Giles' birthday is tomorrow (shhhh!), but he's already received the best birthday present possible. We thank God for His faithfulness, and would just like to also thank all of you who encouraged us and prayed for us.

I (Giles) arrived back at Oleksandria late yesterday evening from Kiev, after a 4 1/2 hour train ride. The trip was quite enjoyable as Zhenia and I shared the compartment with a Spanish couple who were also in the process of adopting --in their case, an 8 year old boy and a 10 year old girl. The couple was traveling with their facilitator to visit their kids. I, unfortunately, have forgotten much of my high school Spanish, but it didn't matter much as the man spoke English fairly well. It turns out that the couple were both doctors, so in addition to talking about adoption, food, politics, and siestas, we were able to "talk shop" and compare notes on the medical systems in our respective countries. Meanwhile, Zhenia and the other facilitator hit it right off, jabbering away in Russian. We shared tea, cookies, and great conversation--all-in-all a very enjoyable trip.

Interesting how it started, though. We arrived at the train station to catch the midnight train to Kiev. Easy, right? Unfortunately the train was sold out and no tickets were available. Zhenia, quite the resourceful fellow that he is, didn't seem terribly concerned. The key, he says, is simply talking to the right person--in this case the chief ticket collector on the train. No problem. I'm thinking to myself, I can't wait to see how this unfolds. So 10 minutes later, the 18-car train pulls into the station for a 2 minute stop and we find ourselves running urgently down the platform looking for, who we hope, is the chief ticket person, with me praying to myself silently. And wouldn't you know it, the first person he talks to just happens to be the one with the authority to let us unto the train. Furthermore, the car, on whose stairs she was standing, just happened to be have two beds available. Of course, there were no sheets, my nose told me that our compartment was right next to the bathroom, and it must have been about 50 degrees, but hey, we made it onto the train and had a place to sleep, so no complaints from us. Actually, the whole thing was quite a blast! (I'm not sure that Deb would have felt the same way, though...) Overall, I must say that Ukrainian trains are a definite step up from the trains I road in China a number of years ago.

Chris (Zahar) is still in the hospital. We've been told that he's been telling everyone that when he leaves, he's going home with his family. We all miss the little guy terribly and hope that he'll be discharged this weekend, but who knows. We're still amazed that children over here are routinely admitted to 1-2 week stays in the hospital for nothing more than a low-grade fever, but that's how the system works. (American insurance companies would shudder)

Until next time!