What A Week :)

It has been a wild ride at the home of The Halls this week. There has never been a dull moment! At times it looked like a scene from the "Super Nanny Show" (in fact, I almost filled out an application for the show a couple of times, haha...just kidding)and other times sweet "Little House on the Prarie" moments. There have definitely been many adjustments for all of us as we have begun to learn how to be a family. There are many things to work through of past learned behaviors and the attempt to reverse the emotional damage that comes along with children who have lived through such difficult past situations. Although we still have a ways to go, it seems that each new day gets a little easier and that the adjustments for that day are improving a little better than the day before. We are so thankful for the support of other adoptive families to share all of our similar experiences and learn from each other what seems to work best. Jerry & Amanda~ it was also great catching up with you this week and thanks for all the encouragement...since you are a couple of weeks ahead of us, you can fill us in on the changes we can expect for each week ahead, haha! We also want to thank Lauren for coordinating meals for us all of this week and each one of our friends that brought a meal. I cannot tell you how HUGE that was not to have to think of cooking. Thank you to all of you who have passed down clothes to Inna & Vitali and for the financial donation from Living Hope and for all that has let us know that you are praying....what a TREMENDOUS BLESSING all of this has been for us!
A little update on the kids:
Inna still loves the pool most of all and is getting a great tan from being out in the sun so much. Her next favorite thing is the 2 Barbie's we bought her. She takes them swimming with her most of the time. She has really missed her friends at the orphanage and tonight we are going to get some pics printed out to make her an photo album of her orphanage and friends there. Neither, Vitali or Inna had meat at their orphanages so they have been getting used to eating meat and she has found that she likes chicken and roast. She really likes soup, but thinks the Campbell's soups are too salty. She really wants to eat all day long with the food being so plentiful here, but this would be expected for anyone who has been food deprived. Vitali will eat pretty much anything that is placed in front of him, even meats. I havent found hardly anything that he doesnt like. She is learning English little by little and we have been able to communicate most things to each other. She will start with her English tutor next week.
On to Vitali~ Lesson # 1~ A very active child + lack of balance= STITCHES!!! Yes, we have already been to the ER this week. He has a very high pain tolerance and has not learned to be careful of things that can seriously hurt him yet. In other words, he bangs his head on everything right now and and tries to dive head first off of anything he can. We try to run across the room and catch him before the big plunge! This week, after the water was drained out of the tub for his bath, he decided to jump head first into the bath tub and landed on his chin and busted it open. After only 2 minutes of crying, he was fine and ready to plunge again, but we took him to have it looked at and I pretty much begged that if there was anyway to only do the liquid stitches to please try that since I didnt want his first American doctor visit to involve needles. They decided to give the liquid stitches a try and thank God it is working great! He did take them off the next day and we went back to get some more and thankfully, they sent some with me to do myself the next time, because he did remove them again. But, now the chin is healing well and closed up. He is improving in his motor skills, walking, coordination, and speech by leaps and bounds. It is amazing!! He was having a great deal of trouble with coordination and balance at the orphanage and still has a long way to go, but we have definitely seen improvements. His speech is just unbelievable! He talks all day long!

Grant is making adjustments too and some days are harder than others for him. He is doing great sharing a room with Vitali and spending a lot of time swimming with Inna! He is looking forward to starting baseball back this summer! He just finished school and did great!

We will be going to take Inna & Vitali to Birmingham this week for their UAB adoption clinic evals. We have been looking forward to this, so that we can be sure of any needs that need to be treated and to get the ball rolling. This will be a very lengthy appointment as they will both be evaluated by a pediatrician, developmental specialist, and councelor. The next day, they will have more blood work at our Pediatrician here in Prattville. Please pray for smooth appointments and wisdom for all involved.

Here are some pics of first days home:
1. Vitali & Grant playing with Thomas the Tank Engine
2. Inna dancing to a song on the T.V.
3 & 4~ swimming in our pool

We're Home!

Hi everyone~ We did make it home safely on Saturday night and Jason is thrilled to be back!!! Thanks to Papaw & Nanny for the great ride to & from the airport! Well, the Hall household has been "Hoppin" ever since! There have been many moments of excitement, joy, tears, tantrums...you name it...just like expected, there are many adjustments right now!

Just to give you a quick recap of the events of the past 48 hrs (Warning: not for weak stomachs)~ Vitali had a dirty diaper on the plane that was even on clothes & the buckle seatbelt sign was on and attendants were strickly enforcing at the time, so Jason could not change him for an hour until they landed, which was our first cell phone call from Jason going through customs in the airport to get the new clothes ready to change right away! This is a great intro to the rest of the past 48hrs because it has been just as eventful...Inna has eaten a dog treat thinking it was for her(until we told her) and not to be outdone, Grant decided to follow her and lick a dog treat! The great news is that Vitali has cured our dog of all of his barking, because everytime he does, Vitali chases him! Though, he has learned to pet him now instead of lifting him by his tail. There are many behavior adjustments to be addressed. There are a few times when Inna has not gotten what she wanted that Jason & I looked at each other and said I think we just got cursed out in Russian! These are some of the difficulties, but there have been many joys and visible improvements in both kids already. Vitali is like a totally different child now! He has been talking non-stop (literally) today~ I believe that he has made up for 4 yrs in one day! When he is not talking, he is has been singing while he walks around. He loves to play and seems to be very happy!
Inna absolutely loves the swimming pool and would probably stay in it all day if she could. She has had some great times and some down times (again, expected). Her favorite thing other than swim is to go through her closet and change outfits. I think we have had about 10 outfit changes over the past 48 hrs complete with a new hairdo for each one! We wondered if she would like the dresses since she mostly wore a gym suit in Ukraine, but almost all of her clothing changes have been into dresses. Melissa Taylor, her favorite dress is the one that ya'll handed down to her with the purses on it that has the fun diferent lengths at the bottom. She loves to dance and watch it twirl! Her favorite show so far is Dora!
They both like pretty much any food that is placed before them. We have tried to make sure they get some things that they would eat at home, but they even like the new foods from here too. It is just amazing to watch them eat...they eat and drink so quickly and are usually done before we even get through putting our seasonings or sauces on our plate :) Trish G., they LOVED the pea soup and Pam, we LOVED the lasagna!!!
Grant & Tiff are doing great too! Grant is thrilled with his new brother and sister and seems to be adjusting well with having them here!!! They have both warmed up to Tiff very quickly. In fact, Vitali is loading toys on top of her right now! Vitali has warmed up to neighbors and friends bringing meals rather easily, but Inna has not been willing to meet anyone so far, except for the ones that were at the airport. I am sure that this will just take time and that it is all overwhelming for her right now! Tomorrow, we have an interpreter coming so that we can communicate the things that are needed with them and that they can ask or tell us anything that they may need. The interpreter is a sweet foreign exchange student who is staying with a family in our church and she has been so sweet to offer coming anytime that we need. So far, the communication has gone better than we ever expected. My Russian cheat sheet has been a life-saver and Inna is picking up some English words rather quickly. Please keep the prayers coming...although we are in a big adjustment phase, these are things that we expected from all the adoption educational preparations from our agency, UAB clinic, and others experiences and it really helps to be able to say when something happens, "ok, this is just what we learned would happen from others experiences" instead of being taken by surprise! We really feel your prayers and God's strength every step of the way!

Here is a pic of when we first met up at the airport (More pics later).....

Just Hours Away Until We Are All Home Together

It's a cool thought that even though it is nightime our time, it is morning Ukraine time and Jason, Inna, & Vitali should have just arrived at the Kiev airport not long ago to get ready to board their plane to head to 1st stop in Prague (Czech Republic). Please keep Jason and the kids in your prayers for all of the flight time. He has a 5 hour layover in Prague and cannot leave the airport and then a long flight to U.S. He knows that it may be a trying day and says it is worth going through the long flight and long layover as long as he knows he will be at home in the U.S. at the end of the day. I can just hear the "Amens"! They will be arriving in Atlanta at 5:20 p.m. ATL time where we will meet them!

Overall, he has done well the past few days with the kids. He says their days have been filled with many ups and downs, some joyful moments and some challenges, which would all be expected. He shared some cute moments with us like when Vitali took a bath for the first time and he LOVED it! From what we understand, at the orphanages in Ukraine the kids normally one by one stand in the tub as the caregivers spray them down like a shower, so as far as we know, this was his first bath experience. Jason said he just loved his bath and Inna saw how much fun he was having so she came in and washed his hair to join in on the fun!
He also shared about shortly after he had gotten them out of the orphanage and he had given them some juice, which they drank in one gulp! They went to eat shortly after and he ordered them a big glass of water and again they drank in one gulp. So, knowing they must be really thirsty he ordered another glass of water and Inna finally said, "Faza, Faza...and went on talking in Ukrainian and Sergey translated that she was saying, "Father, Father if you keep giving me drinks I am going to pee in my pants". We thought that was funny!

Things have been going well at home, just very busy too getting things ready and setting up all appointments for the kids. A special thanks to Trish R. and Tiff who have been my painting buddies (or they might say slaves...just kidding~ they graciously volunteered) the past few days! Thank you also to all of you have checked to see if I needed any help this week, to those who brought clothes or let me know that you have some clothes for us, Claudia...love the sound machine and the video monitor...we have taken turns seeing who could scare the other person by hiding in the room and jumping out in front of the video camera (I know...not the intended purpose, haha!), and thanks to everyone who has hung on in this adoption ride with us all the way back to America...your support has meant so much!

Tonight, Grant and I had a special dinner out for just the 2 of us before everyone gets home and we had a great time! He is PUMPED about tomorrow and told me he has been waiting on a brother AND a sister since he was 3 yrs old and that sounds like the truth!

Well, we are very excited about Inna & Vitali coming home and our family finally all being together! In the adoption process before we left for Ukraine we spent a lot of time learning about orphaned children and adoptive parenting through our adoption agency, UAB international adoptive clinic, and many experienced professionals that work with internationally adopted children on a regular basis and other adoptive families. Through all of this we learned that there are some things about adoptive parenting that are the same as parenting a biological child and there are quite a few things that are different. They also taught us that it is important that our children have a specific type of environment and parenting when they first come home in order to feel safe and begin to learn how to live in a family. Beyond just the normal emotions of anyone who has experienced transitions, this can be an especially difficult time for orphaned children whose difficult past experiences normally impact their beliefs and behaviors once they get home. Please continue to pray as we implement the recommendations to us to help our children become a strong, attached, emotionally healthy family member. One thing recommended and that we feel is best also is to try to provide a more quiet environment(which is definitely not our norm) for a few weeks once we get over our initial celebration of coming home the first day. This will also give the kids a chance to get over jet lag, get used to a new time change, a new country, new foods, new everything, and will allow them time to learn about their new parents (and even what a parent is for Vitali) and new brother and for us to get to know them. So, we are doing our best not to commit to being anywhere for about 3 weeks (except, Jason's job and their medical appointments) If we feel that things are progressing quickly, we may begin to venture out sooner. We can't wait for them to meet all of their family and friends that have been praying for them for so long and all of those who have been on this journey with us!! We can't wait for them to experience the blessing that we already get to experience of so many AWESOME people that God has placed in our lives!!!! We love you!
Jason & Mel

Comments:
"Addicted to Blog"~ Yeah, I do remember Backyard Burger...although it does kinda feel like 20 yrs ago instead of 2, haha!

Tina~ I think you are right about Vitali talking.

Trish G.~ Thanks to you & Kent for keeping up and praying so much for us!

Yo Daddy~ Get the van ready...Grant's PUMPED and it gonna be a WILD ride there :)

Gasaways~ We love you...You're right...Prattville won't be the same...they told me at the school the other day, that Inna will make the 13th language represented here in our P-ville school system.

Leonard Family~ Thank you!

Ukraniac~ So cool about the plane! I hope ya'll are passing each other in the airport!

Kevin & Tammy~ Congrats on your appt date- in the summer...this should be much better than winter :)

Jennifer S.~ Thanks! Can't wait to bring em to church!

The Swinney's~ Your church has been an awesome blessing to us. Thank you!

The Taylor's~ I was just thinking today about how our time in Ukraine took the same amount as yours...2 mos...who would of thought?

Guess Who Is With Papa Tonight!!!!!

It is a Big Day for us and not just because our count up of days in Ukraine is on exactly 60 days today...2 months :) ... but because Inna & Vitali left the orphanage officially today!!! The passports came through this morning and then Jason went straight to "Big Novo" to pick up the kids. When he got to Inna's orphanage, the staff there had already told her that he was on his way and she was dressed and waiting on him downstairs. She was very excited when she saw him and was ready to go!!!! Then, they drove to Vitali's orphanage and after he had given his goodbye's to everyone, he joined his sister for much excitement in the car. They called me & Grant in the car as they headed to Kiev and we all had a little celebration over the phone!! We talked to Inna and then to Vitali. Guess who was talking A LOT on the phone...Vitali!!! We could not believe it...he was repeating every word he heard to us and naming everything that he saw with excitement! I am still blown away at the speech change in him and I don't even know how to explain the difference in what we have seen over the past visits and what we heard today. All I can think is that God knew all along what Vitali was capable of...we just had not seen it yet!!!! When they arrived in Kiev, they ate dinner with our facilitator (B) & his wife and children. Jason said they had a great dinner time and then they headed to the apartment where they are sleeping tonight. Tomorrow, they will wake up bright and early and Inna & Vitali will have their medicals done and then Jason will apply for their Visa's so that they can come home Saturday!!!! Thank you for all of your prayers...God is so good! Please continue to pray for the events of tomorrow and for comfort from all the transitions!
Mel

The Day Before The Big Day...Hopefully!

Jason has been very busy the past 2 days making decisions & plans for the rest of the week. Inna & Vitali's passports were not available today, so he has another day in the main city of Zhytomyr. We are very hopeful that the passports will be ready tomorrow morning and that tomorrow afternoon will be "The Big Day" that Inna & Vitali will come out of the orphanage forever. If the passports ARE ready in the morning, then Jason & Sergey will drive to "Big Novo" that afternoon to get the kids and then head to Kiev to finish out process there. If everything goes on schedule, then he will be able to fly out of Ukraine to be home on Saturday...YEA!!!! He did have to change his flight though because all the flights leaving out from Ukraine to NY to Atl were booked for Sat, Sun, Mon, and had one seat on Tues. So, after checking into any other options today, they found him a flight from Kiev to Czech Republic to Atl for Saturday. The bad news is that he will not be going through NY anymore for Grant & I to meet up with him there, so we had to change those plans too. So, now my dad...known on the blog as "Yo Daddy" and my step-mom, Pat are going to drive us to Atlanta in their mini-van (So that we will all have a seat for everyone on the way back) and we will meet Jason in the Atl airport and we will all ride back to P-ville together where I am sure Jason will probably take advantage of much needed rest.
We are very exited of thought of Inna & Vitali hopefully leaving with Papa tomorrow! Inna's Gigi (my mom) sent bead bracelets for Inna to give each of her friends in her group before she leaves the orphanage tomorrow for them to remember her by and we also packed notecards, envelopes, and stamps to give her best friends to be sure that they would be able to write her. I know that it will be a huge transition and I wish we could just take them all with us :), but I know that Inna really wants to be in a family and that the Lord will help her & Vitali through the transition.

I asked Jason if he wanted me to tell you anything specific and he just wanted to ask you to pray for some specific things if you would:
1. That the passports would be done by tomorrow.
2. That there will be a smooth transition taking them out of the orphanage and the days ahead.
3. Medicals/Visa's
4. Flight Home
By the way...he is still reading all of the blog, but from a timed internet cafe, which doesnt allow him enough time to post.
Hoping to have good news to share tomorrow!
Thanks for all your prayers!
Mel & Jason

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all of the mother's have had a wonderful Mother's Day! I sure do miss not having our family in Ukraine with us today, but it has been a beautiful day and Grant and I have enjoyed every minute. Jason called early this morning to wish me a Happy Mother's Day and Grant remembered right when he got up this morning and has been especially snuggly all day long (which I LOVE). Yesterday, he had his wallet out and he told me that he needed to run to Food World up the street and when he got there, he bought seeds for us to plant flowers today for the occasion. So, we went swimming after church and then planted our flowers.

Last night we began on Inna's room and actually made a lot of progress. She told us that she likes the color green, so we are adding the girly lime green wherever we can. This is one of my favorite colors too, so it came easy.
Grant is very excited to share a room with Vitali and that is our next project.

Jason is still in the main city of Zhytomyr just waiting on the passports to get done. Once he receives the passports, he will take Inna and Vitali out of the orphanage forever and then they will travel to Kiev to do medicals and Visa's. Jason is very hopeful that he will receive the passports on Tuesday of this week and be able to get them out on Tues afternoon and travel with Sergey to Kiev that night. Of course, we will just have to wait and see if Tues will in fact be THE BIG DAY!!!

While we are in a little waiting period again, I thought that I would share a little more about Inna and Vitali. We seem to get a lot of common questions, so I will try to answer as many as I can or can think of below.

Inna is 10 yrs old and her B-day is in Feb, so she just turned 10. She speaks Ukrainian & Russian (By the way, most Ukrainians speak Russian, but not all Russians speak Ukrainian). When we met her she knew very little English...about as much as we knew Ukrainian :) Communication is definitely a challenge right now, but we have had our translator with us when we have been with her. We went over some words with her while we were all there together and we left an Ukranian to English CD for her to listen to and we are listening at home for us to pick up more Ukrainian words. We are also hiring an English tutor to work with her over the summer, so that we will be able to communicate quicker. God has blessed us with a few Ukrainian speaking friends here in Alabama that have also offered to help translate if we get into a "need some help" mode. Inna is very eager to learn English and we believe that she will learn quickly.
She seems to be very athletic and can climb across monkey bars quicker than anyone I have ever seen. Her personality~ Right now, she just seems to so excited about being adopted that it is hard for her to sit still. Sometimes, when we are all sitting and talking, she will just bounce up and down over and over. She normally gives us spontaneous hugs and kisses the whole visit and held on to us when we would walk around the orphanage. As you can imagine for any orphan, she has had a difficult past and present even at the young age of 10. There will be many challenges to work through on the road ahead, but we see her as a gift from God with so much potential and life and we can't wait to see God's unique plan for her unfold over the years! One of the biggest things that we would like to see in her right now is that she enjoy being a little girl again. Being in an orphanage, the children learn to take care of each other and in Inna's group at her orphanage, she likes to be the "head honcho". She will tell the others what to do and they actually mind her :) Sometimes it gets a little comical. We pray that the transitions of teaching her that she now has parents to depend on and care for her will come quickly and that she will just learn to enjoy being a little girl.
Her favorite foods~ I am not sure, but I know that everyday that we would ask her what she ate, she would always say that they fed her porridge and peas everyday and she seemed to like it. (By the way, does anyone know the closest thing that we have to porridge here in America, so that I can make it when they first get home since that is what her belly is used too :) Jason tried to give her a Fanta Orange drink this past week and she made a bad face. He explained what soda's are, but she told him that she doesnt like sweet drinks. Although, we do know that she liked the juice we would bring her.

Vitali~
He just turned 4 in April while we were all there. Like we said, he seems to be on the level of about an 18-24 month old in every way, except his physical body where he is probably pretty true to size for a 4 yr old. We have already set up his and Inna's appointment at the UAB International Adoption Clinic where they will evaluate his needs and give him the best treatment available. We are VERY excited about the help that they offer. Even though he is not really speaking yet, he seems to understand a lot of the times when his caregivers speak to him in Ukrainian and can follow many of their commands. He really doesnt like to be held too much yet, so Jason gets to hold him if he throws him up in the air and I get to hold him if I feed him Cheerios:) So, we just cherish that quick time. He has the sweetest smile and smiles for us a lot!!! He is in an orphanage that I believe they really care about the kids and try to do the best that they can. We really like the orphanage director at his orphanage. He has been so friendly to us and seems to really care about the kids. He always walks around with candy in his pocket to give them when he sees them. They are all excited that Vitali is getting adopted out. His orphanage is very small and it can be very emotionally draining to visit there sometimes. The orphanage staff does the best that they can, but there is no way to spend the time with each child that they need (and even extra time for special needs kids like his group). We were asking them one day about his delays and trying to figure out what milestones he had reached and one of his caregiver's just said in a caring way that "He is a good boy, but there is just no way that we can give him the individual attention he needs to develop and reach normal milestones". We have no doubt that they have done the best that they could do, but he has definitely suffered the typical results of a child that has not had any stimulation or the care of a family. Just like Inna though, we can't wait to see what God will do in his life!! We have no doubt that he will be a joy to our family!
What he likes to eat: hmmm...well, they told us at the orphanage that he will eat anything put in front of him...YEA!!! He has never had meat though, except for liver! He loves the juice that we bring him on visits and he actually drinks it all in one gulp :) He loves candy too...one of their snacks during the day at the orphanage is candy and juice and we havent found any he doesnt like :)

All in all, we are so thankful that God has blessed us with Grant, Inna, and Vitali and no matter what the challenges are ahead, we feel this adoption is God's plan for our family and that He will teach us all how to be a family together and give us the grace for the days ahead and we will enjoy the blessings that He has given!!!!!!

Comments:
Smurfette~ I think you can find that wallpaper at Ikea and pick me up some too while you are there...lol

Dad~ Salamander..haha...we had fun at the Biscuits Game!!!

Mamaporuski~ Yes, along the way, we have decided that you just might as well laugh. Hope you I-171H gets taken care of as quick as our court decree did. That's a bummer I know!!!

Jerry & Amanda~ We miss you and think of you constantly! We are thinking date for the Hood, Hall, Farrington Reunion in July...what do ya'll think?

Until next time....

Moving Right Along...

The paperwork process is going smoothly according to Jason. They got the necessary authentication of paperwork today in the main city of Zhytomyr and then traveled to "Big Novo" to get paperwork signed at the orphanages and the best news is that there was going to be a possible hold-up because they accidentally typed JACKSON Hall instead of Jason on the court decree...AAAAAAHHHHH! Jason jokingly told Sergey that maybe it would be faster to get it fixed if he flew back to Alabama and just had his name legally changed to Jackson (haha! I told you there might be more name changes before we are done, ok maybe not) The great news is that everything was taken care of quickly and that could save a lot of time...Thank God! So, now Jason and Sergey are back in Zhytomyr waiting on the passports to get done. He said he is staying in a hotel there and has already seen a GROCERY STORE there, a luxury we did not have in "Big Novo". Well, tomorrow is another government holiday in Ukraine. It is Victory Day where they celebrate the day that Germany surrendered during WWII. So, passport office will be closed, but will re open on Monday. Jason, with the wait, he will be able to focus a few days on just getting rest.
Here are a few more pics of when we were all there....

Pics:
1. Jason and some of Inna's friends at her orphanage. The book they are holding up is an English book they are trying to show me.

2. Grant & Vitali

3. The day we took Inna to Vitali's orphanage and we broke out in dance. Just when you thought that ya couldnt do "The Robot" dance to Steven Curtis Chapman, Jason proves us wrong (heehee).

4. This was a hoot to us...She is singing outloud to Steven Curtis Chapman again even though it is in all English.

Happenings in "Big Novo"

Jason is doing good, just of course trying to get adjusted to the time change, which hopefully will be before it is time to come back :) When I was talking to him a little while ago, he was at the cafe downstairs in the hotel and had ordered soup and let's just say I cannot relay his explanation of what he said it looked like the meat was :) He just started dying laughing when he looked at it. He was eating dinner at 10:15 p.m. Ukraine time. I just didnt have the heart to tell him what I have eaten today! He said that he and Sergey have been running non stop from one place to the other and sometimes sprinting to the doors of the building before they close. The great news is that he has been able to visit the kids yesterday and today. I will share about that in a minute, but first want to share with you about Anna's name. Well, she has always been called Inna (Pronounced ee-na) and we decided to talk to her again about her name and make sure of what she wanted us to call her and she made the decision to stay with Inna, so if that's what she wants, that's what we want too :) Of course, there is not even a second thought for us....INNA it is! We'll let ya know if any of the rest of us have name changes too (Haha!)
Now on to Jason's visits with the kids:
Yesterday, he was able to make quick visits to both orphanages in between running to and fro for paperwork. He peeked his head into Inna's school room at her orphanage and she grabbed her new teacher and pointed to Jason and excitedly said, "Faza" (Father) and she ran to him and gave him a big hug. He said that she was so excited to see him. Then he said she went back into the classroom and brought him a little notebook that she wrote "Mother" on the outside and on the inside had her ABC's written in Ukrainian and then English (Impressive) and then it had written, "Your's Inna". She was sad when Jason left, but he told her that tomorrow she gets to go on a car ride to get passport pictures and that he would be back.

Then, he went to Vitali's orphanage and he said Vitali smiled when he saw him and kept pointing to the playground. I guess he remembers us as those fun people that take him to the playground and give him snacks.

Today, Jason and Sergey took Inna and Vitali on a car ride to the main city in Zhytomyr to get their passport pics. This is a huge deal for Vitali considering that he has never been in a car since birth from what we understand, just when he was transferred from the hospital to the orphanage. Wow...can you imagine what that must feel like to be out for the first time! Ok, so to the Farrington's and Hoods, I packed the Dramamine for him and remembering the phone conversation with you, Jerry while one of your's was losing lunch on the way back to Donetsk...we were prepared! He willingly got in the car and Jason said he just took in every site and got really excited when a bus would pull up next to them or when he was see a bird. Jason asked him (through his caregiver who also came along on the ride...Yea!) if he wanted to go on an airplane and he did. Of course, she told Jason that the car is as good as going on an airplane to him since he has never been in one. There was no car sickness today...Woohoo! Inna was very excited about her road trip too. Jason and Inna called me on the phone to let me talk to her and we did the best we could with the language barrier. I said what I knew in Ukrainian and she said what she did in English. It was good to get to talk to her. She wanted to talk to Grant too, but he was at school. Jason and I were talking on the phone afterwards and I could just hear her laughing and laughing...I asked Jason what was funny and he said she is just that excited. They even got to stop and get something to eat, but all I heard that was eaten was buckwheat..yum! He said that Vitali was pretty hyper during this time, but we both said that we think if we were out in public for the first time at 4 yrs old, we would be making an even bigger scene!!!! Jason through Sergey explained the plan over the next week or 2 to Inna and told her that once she left the orphanage with them, before they went home to America, they would have to spend a few days in Kiev (applying for Visa's, etc..) and then could GO HOME!! She told them that she didnt want to go to Kiev, just was ready to go home to America. Jason's next step is that he and Sergey are going to be going to the Zhytomyr Region tomorrow to get authentication of some paperwork and to wait on the Passports to get ready. We have heard that the passport wait can take up to 7 days, but we are praying for less.

We will try to update the blog daily while Jason is there if time allows.
Until next time....
Mel

IN Ukraine

Jason has arrived safely in Ukraine! As soon as Sergey picked him up they went straight to "Big Novo" (What we call Novograd Volinsky) and began paperwork for birth certificates, etc.... He called from outside the courthouse and said that they had already gotten several things accomplished. This is great news and it sounded like the paperwork was going smoothly today. I will update more later...have to get to work for now :)
Mel

Back To Ukraine

Well, today is kind of a sad day and happy day at the same time for our family. Jason is in the air and on his way to Ukraine as I type. We were all sad to not all be going back together and to be apart for so long, but happy that this will be another step closer to Anna & Vitali coming home. The last time Jason called was around 1:30 p.m. our time and he had already flown from Atl to NY and was about to board the plane in NY to go to Ukraine. He was doing good and had stopped at a Duncan Donuts in the NY airport to get his fill, before changing to a whole different food :) Sergey will be waiting to meet up with him as soon as he gets to the Ukraine Airport and then he can just be guided around (that is our favorite part when we could just let someone we trust tell us what to do and take us there. Probably one of our most used phrases with Sergey is you don't even have to explain where all we need to go today, just take us there and we will follow. We knew that he was working his hardest to help us get home with the kids.
Jason will be in contact with Grant & I every day and he has asked me to type his post on the blog for him (There is not as much time to post while in Ukraine as you would think and if he has extra time, he said that he will try to post also, but otherwise I will relay his messages. Even though he may not be able to type out the post, he will be reading each comment left on the blog and he will post new pics as he can.

Pics:
1. So I told you that Novograd Volinsky (the town where their orphanages are located) is the oldest city from the Old Soviet Union~ This is a way of transportation there...you see it everywhere in this town. Some do have cars, but mostly they ride bikes or their horse and carriage. In their courthouse they still use rotary dial phones and a lot of things from the past. It kinda makes you feel time warped to the past. Cool huh?

2. Mel, Grant, Vitali

3. We LOVE this pic...the day that we were waiting awhile for them to bring Anna out to us, we began looking at pics they had on the wall in the orphanage entrance. Guess what we found...an old pic of Anna and her friends at the orphanage!!! This may not sound like much, but normally when you adopt from Ukraine, the adoptive family never gets any older pics of the kids that they are adopting. They only have the current pics they have taken starting from the meeting day. Well, the first picture and only pic that we had ever seen of her from the past was at the SDA on our appointment day. Her head was shaved in this pic they showed us that day and of course you have seen that it has grown since that pic, but when we saw this one below at the orphanage, we recognized her right away because she looked about the same age as the SDA pic they had showed us that day and her hair was just beginning to grow out where it was shaved (by the way no hair is common in the orphanages for boys and girls...I'm sure it makes for easier upkeep. We think she looks precious and we took a pic of the pic on the wall and were excited to find it. We asked her if she played basketball and she said no, that they just posed for the pic. She is on the front row, 3rd from the right.

4. Pic of all of us (Vitali just woke up from his nap :)

4 Days Until Jason Goes Back To Ukraine

It has been a busy week of getting ready for Jason to go back. I am focusing right now on packing the kids suitcases of everything they will need...making sure there is clothes, toiletries, entertainment, meds (just in case), and snacks. Jason is back at work this week until Friday. After much prayer and thought, it looks the plan will be that Jason will fly out on Monday and when in Ukraine meet up with Sergey and they will begin the paperwork and finish out the procedures needed to bring the kids home. Jason and Sergey will be making visits to the orphanages also. Then, when all of this is finished, he will fly out from Ukraine to JFK in New York and Grant and I are going to attempt to fly and meet him at JFK (on a airline buddy pass from my brother) to help with the kids as soon as they arrive there and then we will all fly back to Atlanta together and then drive home. We really would love to fly Sergey home with us and hold him hostage for about a month, but not reality :) Grant and I are going to miss our friends there and boy, would we like to be there to see the kids, but this seems to be the best decision for now. Grant will be finishing 1st grade and catching up on all of his test while he was in Ukraine and if the estimate of time is right, Anna & Vitali may arrive home right when school is out. We are ready for a summer of swimming in our pool!!!! Grant and I are going to be getting our home ready and the kids bedrooms ready while Jason is gone. Anna will have her own bedroom and Grant is excited to share a bedroom for now with Vitali.

Ok, something I keep forgetting to share....this is for Niki, Trish R, and Jennifer Common (Ya'll will appreciate this most of all). We were eating at a Pizza Parlor in Zhytomyr in between paperwork and they had of course Ukrainian music blasting throughout the restaurant. All of the sudden, the next song up was Mary Mary's "Shackles off my feet" in English...and of course, we had to bust a few moves. Don't worry our facilitator joined right in with us!

Tina: Unfortunately, I have no idea how to set up a online photo album, so I will be trying to post as many pics as I can on the blog with each post and on the slide show above. Also, one day I am going to get all these mounds of photos printed...hopefully, before they are in college :)
Pics:
1. Mel, Anna, & Grant
2. On our visits Anna started watching out the window at the time that we usually arrived and before we could make it in the building (which is a little hike to the back of the building) she would surprise us and run out to meet us. This is a pic of her sprinting down the path to meet up with us and we always got big hugs when she arrived.
3. Jason & Mel in the Zhytomyr Region.
4. Vitali playing
5. This is the day that we took Anna to Vitali's orphanage.