Crash! Bump..."ouuuch!" Andrew running to Yuri---with his right ear attached to the bottom of the tree and his legs splayed over the handle bars. Not so good...not a good sight.... insert me shaking my head but smiling (don't worry he's ok).
Before I talk about the "not so good sight" let me tell you about the really good sight... the one we saw today as we entered Yuri's school.
We walked up the street with Oksana, chipsi's and candy in hand (they call pringles chipsi's and loooove them) wondering where we could find Yuri... low and behold here he comes--like a rocket... on a bike--haha
He was peddling so fast I wasn't sure whether to be proud or worried at his speed...cruising is not a concept he understands just yet--it's not a race, you just pedal.. But there he was smiling and showing off--coming RIGHT AT US--but alas he (BARELY) made the turn and using his favorite stopping mechanism: a little brake and a lot of foilage-he softly crashes into the nearby bush. Brushing off his hands and knees he looks up at us with his big hazel eyes (same color as Andrews I might add) and just grins. Then we all bust out laughing. So... I guess he can ride that thing after all--what a quick learner!
Obviously there are a few bumps along the road when learning to ride a bike and although we find him practically perfect in every way shape and form--he did have his first "crash." Insert proud Momma frowning in sympathy. He was coming around the corner and BOOM the boy just decided to use his ear as a brake with the tree being the landing spot. He hit the bottom of the tree so hard the white paint at the bottom of the tree came off on his ear. Andrew ran--and I mean ran--to his side (I was inside and didn't see it all). Yuri was of course like any 10 yr old boy a little embarassed but didn't cry. Andrew insisted on comforting him, which he is not used to, and only when Andrew had him firmly embraced in his arms assuring him it was ok did he let out a mad cry--a short, soft one, but a cry nonetheless. Our "perfect son" cries. I guess he is human after all ;)
Don't worry you can quit holding your breath--he really is fine. It was minimal and he jumped right back on that bike smiling all the way. I very seriously doubt it will be the last crash and we are confident it won't be the last time he'll need his dear old D-A-D.
Can it get any better than this....
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Lost in Translation
I'm just going to apologize up front if this is too long.. but seeing as we only make to the internet cafe every couple days... it is the best I can do. So... Here we go :)
Lost in Translation is the name of some movie I think--I believe it won awards? Probably we should have seen it...because lately, well we've been living it. For example, Oksana, as most Ukrainians, I suppose takes things very literally. This proves to be a problem for the average American because most of us embelish things and of course exaggerate. If this is a problem for most "exaggerating Americans" lets call it an ordeal for me :) Not that I am dramatic at all! Gosh Geeeez.
We were downtown shopping around and just enjoying the day--the weather here is fabulous--sunny but not humid, windy but not knock you down windy--just great...well except when you are on a bus with no windows and lots of people who just don't see bathing as a necessity--then, well then it is H-O-T! I digress... So Oksana was finished but we wanted to walk around aimlessly, because we've grown to be very good at it :) So she says to call her when we are ready or she'll call when she and "Brent" leave (he has the car remember).
We shop and walk and explore....then shop and walk and explore some more (and by shopping I mean window shopping, so redo the picture in your head of Andrew loaded down like and ox with shopping bags because well, that is not accurate). Oksana calls about an hour later and says Brent has to go and if we want to stay it will be awhile until he can pick us up. No problem we say. So she says to call her when we are ready. So...that's what we do--but boy did it get "lost in translation." Not just like oops I lost my keys in my bag lost, more like I'm in Ukraine on a street I don't know with people who don't speak my language lost. We are using this as our confession because even while trying to clear up this little ordeal we feel the explanation was also...yep, you guessed it: lost.
We call Oksana at least 3 hours later because even though we are not buying anything we are enjoying our time. Not only is the translation fuzzy but so is our connection. We do a jovial little game called "no you call...no you call" and I won (yippeee). Here's the conversation (you tell me how you think it sounds, remember, I'm a little sensitive sometimes (hehe):
Oksana: "Aloha (not like Hawaiin aloha--sounds like halll-o-ah)"
Kristen: "Hi Oksana, it's Kristen (duh who else would be calling her speaking English--that's probably what she thought). We're ready."
Insert awkard pause..................................................
Oksana: "You are ready?"
Kristen: "Yes, if that's ok and you are. We are ready."
Oksana: 'insert pause'....Ok it will be 15 minutes. 10-15 minutes.
Kristen: "Ok that's fine. Whenever, we are pretty laid back, no hurry." (of course later I think that laid back isn't really going to translate anyway.. so my mistake there).
Seems like a normal conversation, a little awkward but nothing too bad...right?
Wrong.
When she gets there--by foot and bus, not with Brent, by car, we think... hmm that's strange. To make a short story long it turns out that Brent was still busy so instead of telling us that she took the bus and walked. Omgosh--we stink. When we realize this we say oh no--you didn't have to do that. To which she replies "Well, you didn't say that. You said you were ready to go."
Big gulps. (She didn't say it rude of course--just very matter of fact). So we apologize profusely and try to clear it up... I think she got it but maybe not because we felt bad about it for at least 2 days. So there you have our most traumatic 'translation' story. The others are minor but still amusing.
For example, sometimes we ask a question and either she doesn't understand or didn't hear us... not sure.. but her answer starts out strong then just trails off. Andrew and I will exchange glances and just shrug. It's amazing how you get used to feeling confused. Blind trust may be a fruit of the spirit...
BACK TO YURI STORIES......
So back to what you really want, stories about Yuri... We went to visit him yesterday. That in and of itself could be a story. It's about an hour and a half to Jonquoy where his school is. We take the bus as often as we can because its looooaaads cheaper than by car with Brent--although with Brent it does go faster. The bus is the funny part, funny smells, funny people, funny not knowing what is going on on the soap opera they have playing :)
But it is fun as well. The bus getting there is nicer than the bus home. I guess they don't have a big bus to get back home. However, niether have air conditioning and for some reason the windows won't open. Andrew, who as you probably know, rarely if ever complains (except when he is hungry and fighting being grumpy--it's true--the man is a grump when he is hungry) actually had a negative remark about the lack of air in the bus. Know I know it's probably not 'blog worthy' but since it is such a rare occasion for him to complain I find it necessary to record it for all to see. Ladies and gentleman here is what he said, somewhat annoyed: "gosh did it ever occur to them that if you don't have air conditioning the windows should at least work? Ugh, I mean people die from this stuff." And that was it after that he went back to reading. I smiled because finally he made a complaint--I mean for the first 45 minutes I thought I was alone in noticing that everyone was smelling and melting!
Oksana and her husband took Yuri an old bike becuase we were telling him about his back in America and he was Elated! It was very thoughtful of them. So Andrew taught him to ride--it was so great. Picture Andrew running behind the bike trying to keep ahold of the seat while Yuri wobbled and peddled and giggled. Then me with the camera running beside/behind yelling "yeah! yuri!" I have the video and tons of pictures--it was great!
I haven't had a baby of my own yet but I would relate it to the feeling of watching your child take their first steps---yep, we're that proud. Riding bikes is a big deal in the Bradley Household :) It's amazing that someone his age has never had the chance to ride a bike given that it is a common mode of transportation here. So with that you can see how very excited he was to ride. Before we were able to take it out of the car( it was in the back of the hatch and you couldn't really see it) I kid you not he must have sat there peeking at it and pointing saying Mom, Dad and grinning ear to ear for at least 20 minutes.
Needless to say he wobbled a lot at first but all in all his first experience riding went very well. We are convinced that by the time we get back tomorrow he'll be a pro--or at least a lot better. We can't wait!
Lost in Translation is the name of some movie I think--I believe it won awards? Probably we should have seen it...because lately, well we've been living it. For example, Oksana, as most Ukrainians, I suppose takes things very literally. This proves to be a problem for the average American because most of us embelish things and of course exaggerate. If this is a problem for most "exaggerating Americans" lets call it an ordeal for me :) Not that I am dramatic at all! Gosh Geeeez.
We were downtown shopping around and just enjoying the day--the weather here is fabulous--sunny but not humid, windy but not knock you down windy--just great...well except when you are on a bus with no windows and lots of people who just don't see bathing as a necessity--then, well then it is H-O-T! I digress... So Oksana was finished but we wanted to walk around aimlessly, because we've grown to be very good at it :) So she says to call her when we are ready or she'll call when she and "Brent" leave (he has the car remember).
We shop and walk and explore....then shop and walk and explore some more (and by shopping I mean window shopping, so redo the picture in your head of Andrew loaded down like and ox with shopping bags because well, that is not accurate). Oksana calls about an hour later and says Brent has to go and if we want to stay it will be awhile until he can pick us up. No problem we say. So she says to call her when we are ready. So...that's what we do--but boy did it get "lost in translation." Not just like oops I lost my keys in my bag lost, more like I'm in Ukraine on a street I don't know with people who don't speak my language lost. We are using this as our confession because even while trying to clear up this little ordeal we feel the explanation was also...yep, you guessed it: lost.
We call Oksana at least 3 hours later because even though we are not buying anything we are enjoying our time. Not only is the translation fuzzy but so is our connection. We do a jovial little game called "no you call...no you call" and I won (yippeee). Here's the conversation (you tell me how you think it sounds, remember, I'm a little sensitive sometimes (hehe):
Oksana: "Aloha (not like Hawaiin aloha--sounds like halll-o-ah)"
Kristen: "Hi Oksana, it's Kristen (duh who else would be calling her speaking English--that's probably what she thought). We're ready."
Insert awkard pause..................................................
Oksana: "You are ready?"
Kristen: "Yes, if that's ok and you are. We are ready."
Oksana: 'insert pause'....Ok it will be 15 minutes. 10-15 minutes.
Kristen: "Ok that's fine. Whenever, we are pretty laid back, no hurry." (of course later I think that laid back isn't really going to translate anyway.. so my mistake there).
Seems like a normal conversation, a little awkward but nothing too bad...right?
Wrong.
When she gets there--by foot and bus, not with Brent, by car, we think... hmm that's strange. To make a short story long it turns out that Brent was still busy so instead of telling us that she took the bus and walked. Omgosh--we stink. When we realize this we say oh no--you didn't have to do that. To which she replies "Well, you didn't say that. You said you were ready to go."
Big gulps. (She didn't say it rude of course--just very matter of fact). So we apologize profusely and try to clear it up... I think she got it but maybe not because we felt bad about it for at least 2 days. So there you have our most traumatic 'translation' story. The others are minor but still amusing.
For example, sometimes we ask a question and either she doesn't understand or didn't hear us... not sure.. but her answer starts out strong then just trails off. Andrew and I will exchange glances and just shrug. It's amazing how you get used to feeling confused. Blind trust may be a fruit of the spirit...
BACK TO YURI STORIES......
So back to what you really want, stories about Yuri... We went to visit him yesterday. That in and of itself could be a story. It's about an hour and a half to Jonquoy where his school is. We take the bus as often as we can because its looooaaads cheaper than by car with Brent--although with Brent it does go faster. The bus is the funny part, funny smells, funny people, funny not knowing what is going on on the soap opera they have playing :)
But it is fun as well. The bus getting there is nicer than the bus home. I guess they don't have a big bus to get back home. However, niether have air conditioning and for some reason the windows won't open. Andrew, who as you probably know, rarely if ever complains (except when he is hungry and fighting being grumpy--it's true--the man is a grump when he is hungry) actually had a negative remark about the lack of air in the bus. Know I know it's probably not 'blog worthy' but since it is such a rare occasion for him to complain I find it necessary to record it for all to see. Ladies and gentleman here is what he said, somewhat annoyed: "gosh did it ever occur to them that if you don't have air conditioning the windows should at least work? Ugh, I mean people die from this stuff." And that was it after that he went back to reading. I smiled because finally he made a complaint--I mean for the first 45 minutes I thought I was alone in noticing that everyone was smelling and melting!
Oksana and her husband took Yuri an old bike becuase we were telling him about his back in America and he was Elated! It was very thoughtful of them. So Andrew taught him to ride--it was so great. Picture Andrew running behind the bike trying to keep ahold of the seat while Yuri wobbled and peddled and giggled. Then me with the camera running beside/behind yelling "yeah! yuri!" I have the video and tons of pictures--it was great!
I haven't had a baby of my own yet but I would relate it to the feeling of watching your child take their first steps---yep, we're that proud. Riding bikes is a big deal in the Bradley Household :) It's amazing that someone his age has never had the chance to ride a bike given that it is a common mode of transportation here. So with that you can see how very excited he was to ride. Before we were able to take it out of the car( it was in the back of the hatch and you couldn't really see it) I kid you not he must have sat there peeking at it and pointing saying Mom, Dad and grinning ear to ear for at least 20 minutes.
Needless to say he wobbled a lot at first but all in all his first experience riding went very well. We are convinced that by the time we get back tomorrow he'll be a pro--or at least a lot better. We can't wait!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Meeting Yuri....finally!
I know you all probably think we have fallen off the face of the earth...we have not although being away from internet and phone for so long does indeed cause withdrawl.
Ok, I promise I am going to tell you about meeting Yuri.. but first let me give you the details leading up to it... if you skip to the end you are only cheating yourself ;)
We took the train from Kiev to Simferopal on Monday at 6pm. Usually the translator rides there with you and turns around and comes right back once your new translator is with you. Being that we are ever so daring and adventurous, we did it all alone! Yep, look Ma no hands :) more like look ma no Russian! We've become friends with our translator in Kiev and really thought it was not only a waste of money but time for her... thus we proceeded to the train.
We had our own carriage which is nice because if we had to be in there with 2 other people who spoke only Russian and likely didn't bathe often.. we may have panicked. It's a tight squeeze already and well... 13 hours in a cart with total strangers just isn't our thing. As soon as the train pulled off the party in the cart next door started... 4 men in their 30's with no shirts and lots of vodka. They were happy as can be. They got off at every stop to reload their cart and laugh at themselves being topless. Ok so we laughed at them being topless they just laughed because they were drunk. But it was very fun to watch, except when on the way to the bathroom one of the topless drunks brushed his stinky chest hair up against my arm. I don't really like to be touched by strangers--especially not by their chest hair. Oh well..."when in Russia........"
Although we feared we'd miss our stop and/or oversleep, we did not. (insert applause and crowd cheering "yaaaa americanitz") We awoke to Andrew's watch alarm at 640 to prepare to unload all of our luggage at 7. Oh and let me tell you the luggage was a joke. I decided rather than have a big ol back pack and a suitcase I'd cram it all into my suitcase and just 'heave ho' it around... Um ok so yes, I knew that since my suitcase was bigger and it would really be Andrew heavin' it around but hey....what's a girl to do? At the last minute I regretted my decision but as Andrew "oh so tight lipped and politely (HA) reminded me--it was too late. Late? What does that word mean? There is not late in my world? Hmmmmm But in this case late would mean ending up in a place in Ukraine with absolutely no one to pick us up or even try to speak English (you know like our translator who couldn't translate?). So in the light of that fact I shut up and shipped out....with the lighter luggage...oops
We arrived in Jonquoy (prounounced john coy) bright and early, rumpled and probably a little stinky (no place to bathe on a train come on now we didn't just skip a bath). We looked for Alex, our translators husband... but he was not there so we just started walking. Alas, a tall Ukrainian version of a friend from church named Brent McMillian jumped the tracks and stuck out his hand. They said to beware of clever pick pockets... but this was just strange--doesn't he know that we are smarter than to just hand it over... what? oh this is our guy? Great another translator who spoke no English. We were about to blindly trust him and walk to his car when he said he was Albert... Albert? Andrew and I exchanged glances because we are smart and we know that Gayla said Alex...right? It was Alex wasn't it? So our little Vandy Grad here said, who are you with and when he replied Oksana--we knew Albert was Alex... And Brent McMillan (which is what we call him--don't worry he has no clue. Also, if you are reading this and have Brent McMillian's email feel free to send this to him. We feel like he should know since we are spending a month with his twin brother).
We've been at the mercy of strangers for over a week now and so blind trust is no big deal but I must say I did get a little Nancy Drew after we were in the car. Here's what the Nancy Drew in me was thinking:
Why doesn't he try to speak to us even in Russian like everyone else? Why do we have no idea
when Oksana will be here? Is he Oksana's wife? (He never told us he was, she did later... after
we asked). Why did he just pull over in a random ghetto apartment parking lot and shut off
the car? Omgosh, he knows we are carrying an ungodly amount of cash! Omgosh we are
waiting for his KGB thug leader. Oh no this is it this is it!!! aaaaah.
Luckily the better part of me, Andrew, told me not to worry when I voiced a seriously small fraction of that worry and said it would be fine.
Long story short turns out we were waiting for one of the orphanage directors and giving her a ride to the orphanage and waiting for Oksana (the only one who speaks English) to get off the train.
The orphanage director who's name I don't know yet, was very kind. Although she spoke no English unlike Brent she smiled a lot and gave us cafe (coffee). I only choked on the grinds of the instant coffee a couple of times. They like instant coffee and I'm getting good at stopping before the end of the cup--the grinds. She also gave us chocolate which Andrew of course declined because it might have "spoiled his lunch" not me --chocolate?! I will take it!
I'll skip the boring stuff but we basically sat around waiting for Oksana and filling out paper work. Yuri was not going to be back from camp until the next day. Meeting Oksana was not anything exciting so I won't write about it. Let's just say we like her she is really good at her job but the best way to sum up the relationship is "Awwwkwaaaard."
Oh yeah, one funny thing is when we picked up Oksana from the train Andrew greeted her by saying "welcom to the Ukraine." It was so funny we laughed but heard Ukrainian crickets chirping for miles. Guess American humor doesn't translate well and perhaps that is what set the tone for the painfully awkward relationship between us all. Oh well.
Part 2 (sorry it's so long) MEETING YURI
The next day we drove back to Jonque from Simferopal. We stay in Simferopal about an hour and a half from Johnque. Today is the day we meet Yuri. As it turns out it's also his birthday. Shocker to us since we thought it was the 10th and we thought he was 9--nope little stinker either didn't know or fibbed he turned 10 on the 25th and so we were able to celebrate with him.
We pulled up to the orphanage hand in hand in the backseat of Brent's Ford Feista (actually a pretty cool ride) hearts pounding loudly in our chest. This is it...here we go. We bowed our heads and said a prayer. Mostly praying he would want to have us adopt him as they made it clear it was his choice. It is obvious this is a great orphanage and they love the kids--especially Yuri. We step out into the dirt/gravel drive and make our way up the steps. I can honestly say I don't think I've been so excited/nervous/distracted/mind wandering with thoughts before.. ok well I have because that's just me... But Andrew hasn't :)
We were just sitting working on papers in the directors office when he came in--all wide eyed and excited--didn't seem nervous at all. I wish I could tell you how tall he is but I don't know--he comes up a little higher than my elbow and I'm 5'6. We were sitting when he came in--unnanounced really. I turned when I heard his little boy voice and my eyes lit up--I was the closest to him and when I turned he reached for me--Andrew says Yuri actually hugged me before I really even had a chance to register what was happening--I can't remember I was too excited. Either way I hugged his little neck and held that strawberry blonde head for what felt like ages. He hugged me back and burried his head on my shoulder. Andrew said he squeezed his eyes shut while hugging me and at the same time breaking to smile at Andrew. I will never ever ever forget that moment. All I can say is I've been dreaming of it for 2yrs now and it was better than I could have thought.
He remembered us--well. Apparantly they told him in June that we were coming. They then began using us as a way to make sure he behaved! Funny huh... now what will we use?! Juuust kiddding. The whole thing was a whirlwind and I wish I could be more descriptive but for all our worries that he may not like us, remember us and/or want us--none were further than the truth. He seemed happy--he was happy to see us. He hugged us both numerous times and we told him happy birthday.
We stayed in that office for about 45min doing paperwork. We gave him his leapster as a Birthday gift and some other small things. He looooves the leapster so thanks to all that helped on that with games and the back pack and gift--he couldn't love it more. Yuri had to write a letter of consent and I can't wait to show you all the pictures and video--he was just so cute.
Yuri was ours for the day. We took him to McDonald's for his birthday--he had never been. He loved it! He ordered a cheeseburger happy meal, a chocolate muffin and a chocolate sunday. It was adorable--he was trying to eat it all and we made sure he realized he didn't have to. He wanted to save what he couldn't eat for later--so he took the muffin, half a cheeseburger and 4 fries (ha!) back with him. He said this is the best birthday. He told us (through the translator) that last year on his birthday that he didn't get anything but there was another boy at the orphanage who did and it made him sad. Insert me trying not to cry. However, when he said it he wasn't sad or whiney--just matter of fact. Oksana asked what his wish for his birthday was this year and he said to be at home with his family and smiled. Once she translated that our hearts sank...but then he finished with--in America--which meant us so we smiled and hugged him.
All in all... it was a WONDERFUL day!
Happy Birthday Yuri and thank you God for making this possible.
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers--keep em coming...we're not done yet.
Sorry this post is so long but I didn't want to leave anything out. I'm going to do another about Yuri that will be shorter. Not sure when we'll be back on the internet.
Miss you all!
Ok, I promise I am going to tell you about meeting Yuri.. but first let me give you the details leading up to it... if you skip to the end you are only cheating yourself ;)
We took the train from Kiev to Simferopal on Monday at 6pm. Usually the translator rides there with you and turns around and comes right back once your new translator is with you. Being that we are ever so daring and adventurous, we did it all alone! Yep, look Ma no hands :) more like look ma no Russian! We've become friends with our translator in Kiev and really thought it was not only a waste of money but time for her... thus we proceeded to the train.
We had our own carriage which is nice because if we had to be in there with 2 other people who spoke only Russian and likely didn't bathe often.. we may have panicked. It's a tight squeeze already and well... 13 hours in a cart with total strangers just isn't our thing. As soon as the train pulled off the party in the cart next door started... 4 men in their 30's with no shirts and lots of vodka. They were happy as can be. They got off at every stop to reload their cart and laugh at themselves being topless. Ok so we laughed at them being topless they just laughed because they were drunk. But it was very fun to watch, except when on the way to the bathroom one of the topless drunks brushed his stinky chest hair up against my arm. I don't really like to be touched by strangers--especially not by their chest hair. Oh well..."when in Russia........"
Although we feared we'd miss our stop and/or oversleep, we did not. (insert applause and crowd cheering "yaaaa americanitz") We awoke to Andrew's watch alarm at 640 to prepare to unload all of our luggage at 7. Oh and let me tell you the luggage was a joke. I decided rather than have a big ol back pack and a suitcase I'd cram it all into my suitcase and just 'heave ho' it around... Um ok so yes, I knew that since my suitcase was bigger and it would really be Andrew heavin' it around but hey....what's a girl to do? At the last minute I regretted my decision but as Andrew "oh so tight lipped and politely (HA) reminded me--it was too late. Late? What does that word mean? There is not late in my world? Hmmmmm But in this case late would mean ending up in a place in Ukraine with absolutely no one to pick us up or even try to speak English (you know like our translator who couldn't translate?). So in the light of that fact I shut up and shipped out....with the lighter luggage...oops
We arrived in Jonquoy (prounounced john coy) bright and early, rumpled and probably a little stinky (no place to bathe on a train come on now we didn't just skip a bath). We looked for Alex, our translators husband... but he was not there so we just started walking. Alas, a tall Ukrainian version of a friend from church named Brent McMillian jumped the tracks and stuck out his hand. They said to beware of clever pick pockets... but this was just strange--doesn't he know that we are smarter than to just hand it over... what? oh this is our guy? Great another translator who spoke no English. We were about to blindly trust him and walk to his car when he said he was Albert... Albert? Andrew and I exchanged glances because we are smart and we know that Gayla said Alex...right? It was Alex wasn't it? So our little Vandy Grad here said, who are you with and when he replied Oksana--we knew Albert was Alex... And Brent McMillan (which is what we call him--don't worry he has no clue. Also, if you are reading this and have Brent McMillian's email feel free to send this to him. We feel like he should know since we are spending a month with his twin brother).
We've been at the mercy of strangers for over a week now and so blind trust is no big deal but I must say I did get a little Nancy Drew after we were in the car. Here's what the Nancy Drew in me was thinking:
Why doesn't he try to speak to us even in Russian like everyone else? Why do we have no idea
when Oksana will be here? Is he Oksana's wife? (He never told us he was, she did later... after
we asked). Why did he just pull over in a random ghetto apartment parking lot and shut off
the car? Omgosh, he knows we are carrying an ungodly amount of cash! Omgosh we are
waiting for his KGB thug leader. Oh no this is it this is it!!! aaaaah.
Luckily the better part of me, Andrew, told me not to worry when I voiced a seriously small fraction of that worry and said it would be fine.
Long story short turns out we were waiting for one of the orphanage directors and giving her a ride to the orphanage and waiting for Oksana (the only one who speaks English) to get off the train.
The orphanage director who's name I don't know yet, was very kind. Although she spoke no English unlike Brent she smiled a lot and gave us cafe (coffee). I only choked on the grinds of the instant coffee a couple of times. They like instant coffee and I'm getting good at stopping before the end of the cup--the grinds. She also gave us chocolate which Andrew of course declined because it might have "spoiled his lunch" not me --chocolate?! I will take it!
I'll skip the boring stuff but we basically sat around waiting for Oksana and filling out paper work. Yuri was not going to be back from camp until the next day. Meeting Oksana was not anything exciting so I won't write about it. Let's just say we like her she is really good at her job but the best way to sum up the relationship is "Awwwkwaaaard."
Oh yeah, one funny thing is when we picked up Oksana from the train Andrew greeted her by saying "welcom to the Ukraine." It was so funny we laughed but heard Ukrainian crickets chirping for miles. Guess American humor doesn't translate well and perhaps that is what set the tone for the painfully awkward relationship between us all. Oh well.
Part 2 (sorry it's so long) MEETING YURI
The next day we drove back to Jonque from Simferopal. We stay in Simferopal about an hour and a half from Johnque. Today is the day we meet Yuri. As it turns out it's also his birthday. Shocker to us since we thought it was the 10th and we thought he was 9--nope little stinker either didn't know or fibbed he turned 10 on the 25th and so we were able to celebrate with him.
We pulled up to the orphanage hand in hand in the backseat of Brent's Ford Feista (actually a pretty cool ride) hearts pounding loudly in our chest. This is it...here we go. We bowed our heads and said a prayer. Mostly praying he would want to have us adopt him as they made it clear it was his choice. It is obvious this is a great orphanage and they love the kids--especially Yuri. We step out into the dirt/gravel drive and make our way up the steps. I can honestly say I don't think I've been so excited/nervous/distracted/mind wandering with thoughts before.. ok well I have because that's just me... But Andrew hasn't :)
We were just sitting working on papers in the directors office when he came in--all wide eyed and excited--didn't seem nervous at all. I wish I could tell you how tall he is but I don't know--he comes up a little higher than my elbow and I'm 5'6. We were sitting when he came in--unnanounced really. I turned when I heard his little boy voice and my eyes lit up--I was the closest to him and when I turned he reached for me--Andrew says Yuri actually hugged me before I really even had a chance to register what was happening--I can't remember I was too excited. Either way I hugged his little neck and held that strawberry blonde head for what felt like ages. He hugged me back and burried his head on my shoulder. Andrew said he squeezed his eyes shut while hugging me and at the same time breaking to smile at Andrew. I will never ever ever forget that moment. All I can say is I've been dreaming of it for 2yrs now and it was better than I could have thought.
He remembered us--well. Apparantly they told him in June that we were coming. They then began using us as a way to make sure he behaved! Funny huh... now what will we use?! Juuust kiddding. The whole thing was a whirlwind and I wish I could be more descriptive but for all our worries that he may not like us, remember us and/or want us--none were further than the truth. He seemed happy--he was happy to see us. He hugged us both numerous times and we told him happy birthday.
We stayed in that office for about 45min doing paperwork. We gave him his leapster as a Birthday gift and some other small things. He looooves the leapster so thanks to all that helped on that with games and the back pack and gift--he couldn't love it more. Yuri had to write a letter of consent and I can't wait to show you all the pictures and video--he was just so cute.
Yuri was ours for the day. We took him to McDonald's for his birthday--he had never been. He loved it! He ordered a cheeseburger happy meal, a chocolate muffin and a chocolate sunday. It was adorable--he was trying to eat it all and we made sure he realized he didn't have to. He wanted to save what he couldn't eat for later--so he took the muffin, half a cheeseburger and 4 fries (ha!) back with him. He said this is the best birthday. He told us (through the translator) that last year on his birthday that he didn't get anything but there was another boy at the orphanage who did and it made him sad. Insert me trying not to cry. However, when he said it he wasn't sad or whiney--just matter of fact. Oksana asked what his wish for his birthday was this year and he said to be at home with his family and smiled. Once she translated that our hearts sank...but then he finished with--in America--which meant us so we smiled and hugged him.
All in all... it was a WONDERFUL day!
Happy Birthday Yuri and thank you God for making this possible.
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers--keep em coming...we're not done yet.
Sorry this post is so long but I didn't want to leave anything out. I'm going to do another about Yuri that will be shorter. Not sure when we'll be back on the internet.
Miss you all!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Habla Espanol??
Who knew it would take coming to Ukraine to realize how much Spanish we knew. There's nothing like a little international travel to brush up on your Spanish....except in Ukraine! lol
Don't ask me why but for some reason for the first week we both kept finding it our first instinct to ask questions in Spanish to try to relate. That is very helpful in Mexico, Honduras...etc but not so much in Ukraine where we may as well be speaking English or even pig latin.
You know how when people don't understand your language you speak slower and louder for some strange reason-like that will really help? Well I will never do that again. I understand how it feels to be fumbling to explain you need to find the restroom to only recieve a blank stare. And it has finally registered in my brain that saying "como se dece....food?" only produces a pity smile. Oh well, it has been good for a laugh or two. We both did it out of habit. Who knew we knew so much Spanish.
So it is is 1210 am Tuesday morning here in Ukraine. Yes, we should be in bed. However, taking a nap at 5pm sort of messes up your schedule :)
We did Rosetta stone for about 2hrs, read a book and stared at the TV as it sputtered out broken Russian and a blank red screen. Then decided to brave it and cross the street alone to the internet cafe. A good decision so far. Tomorrow our translator, Gayla (the one that actually translates into English) is taking us around. She asked us what we'd like to do and after I answered I realized how little of my response probably translated. I said whatever you'd like to do, we are "along for the ride, easy going." I was met with a small pause of silence while I watched Andrew look at me a bit puzzled--he must have realized before I did how natural it is to speak in idioms and cliche's. I'm not sure if it's jut Gayla's personality or her job to do what we want but she replied by saying she would like to do whatever we would like to do. Oh boy... so we said we'd look on the internet. We've seen most of the typical tourist things that are easy to find so Andrew set to work on google...
Here's what he's found:
Chrinoble (surely spelled wrong) it is the nuclear fall out sight and we are also going to try to make it to St Sophia, a cathedral or possibly their beach. I did mention the beach to her before and she didn't seem to understand why we would want to do that. She said the water is very dirty. I explained that we mostly just wanted to see it--not so much take a swim. However, I think we all know Andrew would probably jump right in :) So adventuresome.
I'm running out of time according to the flashing 5 minutes remaining sign so I will wrap this up.
Hopefully we'll be online again soon. We leave for Simferopal and Jonque by train tomorrow. I am assuming there will be internet cafe's but if not we'll post as soon as we possibly can.
Maybe we'll have some funny stories from the train and our time tomorrow...maybe.
Goodnight Everyone....
From Russia with love :P
Don't ask me why but for some reason for the first week we both kept finding it our first instinct to ask questions in Spanish to try to relate. That is very helpful in Mexico, Honduras...etc but not so much in Ukraine where we may as well be speaking English or even pig latin.
You know how when people don't understand your language you speak slower and louder for some strange reason-like that will really help? Well I will never do that again. I understand how it feels to be fumbling to explain you need to find the restroom to only recieve a blank stare. And it has finally registered in my brain that saying "como se dece....food?" only produces a pity smile. Oh well, it has been good for a laugh or two. We both did it out of habit. Who knew we knew so much Spanish.
So it is is 1210 am Tuesday morning here in Ukraine. Yes, we should be in bed. However, taking a nap at 5pm sort of messes up your schedule :)
We did Rosetta stone for about 2hrs, read a book and stared at the TV as it sputtered out broken Russian and a blank red screen. Then decided to brave it and cross the street alone to the internet cafe. A good decision so far. Tomorrow our translator, Gayla (the one that actually translates into English) is taking us around. She asked us what we'd like to do and after I answered I realized how little of my response probably translated. I said whatever you'd like to do, we are "along for the ride, easy going." I was met with a small pause of silence while I watched Andrew look at me a bit puzzled--he must have realized before I did how natural it is to speak in idioms and cliche's. I'm not sure if it's jut Gayla's personality or her job to do what we want but she replied by saying she would like to do whatever we would like to do. Oh boy... so we said we'd look on the internet. We've seen most of the typical tourist things that are easy to find so Andrew set to work on google...
Here's what he's found:
Chrinoble (surely spelled wrong) it is the nuclear fall out sight and we are also going to try to make it to St Sophia, a cathedral or possibly their beach. I did mention the beach to her before and she didn't seem to understand why we would want to do that. She said the water is very dirty. I explained that we mostly just wanted to see it--not so much take a swim. However, I think we all know Andrew would probably jump right in :) So adventuresome.
I'm running out of time according to the flashing 5 minutes remaining sign so I will wrap this up.
Hopefully we'll be online again soon. We leave for Simferopal and Jonque by train tomorrow. I am assuming there will be internet cafe's but if not we'll post as soon as we possibly can.
Maybe we'll have some funny stories from the train and our time tomorrow...maybe.
Goodnight Everyone....
From Russia with love :P
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Court Date
Here they call the court date our"appointment." This is much more appropriate as it really is just an appointment at the Adoption Center.
I don't know what I thought it would be but it was pretty simple. I think I expected "court" you know like Judge Judy screeming at us... just kidding.
This morning Gayla called us at 800 to let us know she would arrive at 815. Luckily we had prepared for this the night before since we did not know what would happen. I'm not sure if Marina, our temporary "translator" who can not in fact translate English, forgot to tell us or if we missed Gayla's call the night before while napping or venturing out to McDonald's without permission. hehe
It wasn't scary if that is what you are thinking. It is seriously across the street, well parking lot really. What was scary was ordering alone and not having enough money with us (we'd left the majority at the flat as we were told to do). We were told that eating at McDonald's is a luxury for most people--I'm not sure who these people are as everytime we pass a McDonald's it is packed full. Last night as we entered we realized that it was the happening place to be :) there were no tables so Andrew waited in line while I went in search for a free table, all the while trying not to stick out like a clueless American traveling alone in the suburbs of Ukraine... It wasn't too hard really, getting a table that is, not sticking out like a neon US flag was a bit more challenging. For one thing North Face jackets aren't really in here--although they really should be as I've found it very useful, packs up small and keeps me warm but not hot and dry when it rains-thank you to my Mother-in-law for buying it and North Face for being so very smart. Anyway back to my story...
So I am settled in at our table waiting for our oh so Ukrainian meal of a cheeseburger and fry :)
They have a few TVs up and they are playing their equivalent of MTV. Let me just tell you how entertaining that is. Most of the songs are in Russian but a few were in English. The winner of the evening for the most popular (and the one still ringing in my ears) was about a girl who thought she was a cat. A grown woman, not so much a girl. She was singing about being a red cat, then a black cat, then a white cat... very catchy. I think I'm going to try to find her CD when I get back home. Other than that our cheeseburgers were the same as in good ol US of A.
Back to court..er, uh, "appointment."
So unlike in America when you have an appointment time of 940 you are actually seen at 940. It is just dandy. We walked right in past what in my ever imaginative mind were other adoption applicants hoping that "Judge Judy" would approve them. I'm not sure how we breezed past the short line but we did. We went up 2 flights of stairs to the office on the right and walked right past Marina (our English translator that spoke no English) and pretended not to know her. It was kind of exciting... Well we did smile at her but we did not speak--"she should not know us" were her exact words and then she'd put her hands over her mouth like a child when they do something wrong. We really like Marina.
We were in the adoption room with Gayla our translator (who actually does speak English :) ) and a young woman who's name I don't know. They pulled out Yuri's file and it had a picture of him from when he was 7 years old... such a cute little kiddo. They spoke about his file and we sat there not understanding for a minute. Then Gayla said to tell her how we met him...etc. I know you all think I did all the talking right? Well no, I just sat there and made Andrew do it--don't ask me why. I apparently "choose" to play submissive and quiet when I feel like it. Haha.
The only part I added was that when we met him we fell in love with him. They seemed to like that.
Yuri is apparently about to be 10--we are still confused on this topic as it either hasn't set in or didn't translate well. I think that he is 9 1/2 but I'm not sure because I think we have his birthdate right on all the paperwork. So... we don't really know on that one.
They did ask us if we realized he was 10, or about to be 10 to which of course we said yes. They said that he has 3 sibblings (which we did not know) a 16 year old sister, 18 year old brother and a 22 year old brother. His 16 year old sister is now in school and is no longer at the orphanage. However, I think that is why awhile back he was moved to a different orphanage--to be with her. They are not close though from what I understand. His two older brothers are adults and I don't know if they were ever in the orphanage or not. He obviously hasn't been visited so he may not really know them. We found out that he is in good health and has actually only been in the "system" since 2005. This is good for him. His Mother lost her rights in 2005 and that is about all we know.
Once they filled us in and called the orphanage to make sure he was there and all was set she smiled and said he was at camp and would be back on Thursday. I know that he went to camp last year too. I was happy to know he is there--because I'm sure it is fun. And that was it... we left the building and took a picture at the door. Gayla said that it went very well--she said as we left " that was easy."
So all in all everything seems good and ready to go. We leave for Simferopal tomorrow by train. Once we are there Oxana will be our translator and take care of us. I think we will be able to go with the orphanage director to pick Yuri up from camp--but I'm not sure. Either way seems like we will be seeing him on Thursday!!!
This all feels a bit like a dream. We are very very very excited. So excited that the minute we left the adoption center we came straight to the internet cafe to tell all of you.
Thank you for being so interested in this exciting part of our lives. We can't even tell you how much it means to us. Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for Yuri too. Although this will be good for him I'm sure it is a bit scary as well.
I guess I better wrap up. Sorry if I babbled and I hope that all made sense :) Again, we are still tired a lot although we can't figure out why. We seem to have plenty of time to sleep... Oh well :)
Please email us if you can. Although we may or not be able to respond we love to have your messages. If you have any questions or things you'd like to read on the blog let us know and we'll do our best.
We miss everyone.
Love,
Kristen & Andrew
I don't know what I thought it would be but it was pretty simple. I think I expected "court" you know like Judge Judy screeming at us... just kidding.
This morning Gayla called us at 800 to let us know she would arrive at 815. Luckily we had prepared for this the night before since we did not know what would happen. I'm not sure if Marina, our temporary "translator" who can not in fact translate English, forgot to tell us or if we missed Gayla's call the night before while napping or venturing out to McDonald's without permission. hehe
It wasn't scary if that is what you are thinking. It is seriously across the street, well parking lot really. What was scary was ordering alone and not having enough money with us (we'd left the majority at the flat as we were told to do). We were told that eating at McDonald's is a luxury for most people--I'm not sure who these people are as everytime we pass a McDonald's it is packed full. Last night as we entered we realized that it was the happening place to be :) there were no tables so Andrew waited in line while I went in search for a free table, all the while trying not to stick out like a clueless American traveling alone in the suburbs of Ukraine... It wasn't too hard really, getting a table that is, not sticking out like a neon US flag was a bit more challenging. For one thing North Face jackets aren't really in here--although they really should be as I've found it very useful, packs up small and keeps me warm but not hot and dry when it rains-thank you to my Mother-in-law for buying it and North Face for being so very smart. Anyway back to my story...
So I am settled in at our table waiting for our oh so Ukrainian meal of a cheeseburger and fry :)
They have a few TVs up and they are playing their equivalent of MTV. Let me just tell you how entertaining that is. Most of the songs are in Russian but a few were in English. The winner of the evening for the most popular (and the one still ringing in my ears) was about a girl who thought she was a cat. A grown woman, not so much a girl. She was singing about being a red cat, then a black cat, then a white cat... very catchy. I think I'm going to try to find her CD when I get back home. Other than that our cheeseburgers were the same as in good ol US of A.
Back to court..er, uh, "appointment."
So unlike in America when you have an appointment time of 940 you are actually seen at 940. It is just dandy. We walked right in past what in my ever imaginative mind were other adoption applicants hoping that "Judge Judy" would approve them. I'm not sure how we breezed past the short line but we did. We went up 2 flights of stairs to the office on the right and walked right past Marina (our English translator that spoke no English) and pretended not to know her. It was kind of exciting... Well we did smile at her but we did not speak--"she should not know us" were her exact words and then she'd put her hands over her mouth like a child when they do something wrong. We really like Marina.
We were in the adoption room with Gayla our translator (who actually does speak English :) ) and a young woman who's name I don't know. They pulled out Yuri's file and it had a picture of him from when he was 7 years old... such a cute little kiddo. They spoke about his file and we sat there not understanding for a minute. Then Gayla said to tell her how we met him...etc. I know you all think I did all the talking right? Well no, I just sat there and made Andrew do it--don't ask me why. I apparently "choose" to play submissive and quiet when I feel like it. Haha.
The only part I added was that when we met him we fell in love with him. They seemed to like that.
Yuri is apparently about to be 10--we are still confused on this topic as it either hasn't set in or didn't translate well. I think that he is 9 1/2 but I'm not sure because I think we have his birthdate right on all the paperwork. So... we don't really know on that one.
They did ask us if we realized he was 10, or about to be 10 to which of course we said yes. They said that he has 3 sibblings (which we did not know) a 16 year old sister, 18 year old brother and a 22 year old brother. His 16 year old sister is now in school and is no longer at the orphanage. However, I think that is why awhile back he was moved to a different orphanage--to be with her. They are not close though from what I understand. His two older brothers are adults and I don't know if they were ever in the orphanage or not. He obviously hasn't been visited so he may not really know them. We found out that he is in good health and has actually only been in the "system" since 2005. This is good for him. His Mother lost her rights in 2005 and that is about all we know.
Once they filled us in and called the orphanage to make sure he was there and all was set she smiled and said he was at camp and would be back on Thursday. I know that he went to camp last year too. I was happy to know he is there--because I'm sure it is fun. And that was it... we left the building and took a picture at the door. Gayla said that it went very well--she said as we left " that was easy."
So all in all everything seems good and ready to go. We leave for Simferopal tomorrow by train. Once we are there Oxana will be our translator and take care of us. I think we will be able to go with the orphanage director to pick Yuri up from camp--but I'm not sure. Either way seems like we will be seeing him on Thursday!!!
This all feels a bit like a dream. We are very very very excited. So excited that the minute we left the adoption center we came straight to the internet cafe to tell all of you.
Thank you for being so interested in this exciting part of our lives. We can't even tell you how much it means to us. Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for Yuri too. Although this will be good for him I'm sure it is a bit scary as well.
I guess I better wrap up. Sorry if I babbled and I hope that all made sense :) Again, we are still tired a lot although we can't figure out why. We seem to have plenty of time to sleep... Oh well :)
Please email us if you can. Although we may or not be able to respond we love to have your messages. If you have any questions or things you'd like to read on the blog let us know and we'll do our best.
We miss everyone.
Love,
Kristen & Andrew
We made it!
We are here!
We've been in Ukraine since yesterday but today is the first day I have been able to figure out how to update the blog.
We only have few minutes here but I am going to try to type as fast as I can.
We went to Amsterdam and Paris prior to arriving in Ukraine and we looooved both. Paris was everything it should be. We had a great hotel room also with a balcony overlooking the street. In all honesty we were very nervous what the room would be like--probably more me than Andrew as if it weren't for me he'd have stayed on the street with a sleeping bag so he could really experience the world. haha just kidding. But it was wonderful. We did all the touristy things of course. No way to update pics but will as soon as we return home. Amsterdam was great! We had a whole flat to ourselves overlooking the street. We felt like we lived there.. We had a lot of fun. Everyone in both places is really nice. French are not rude like everyone acts like they are.
Ok back to Ukraine... we have been here since yesterday afternoon. Our translator is sick or something and so she sent her friend until Monday. This is no problem but really quiet interesting as she speaks about 10 English words. It's been really funny. She has taken us all around today and shown us Kiev. I'm sure we stick out like a sore thumb as we are the only ones speaking English and walking around with our pocket translator (great gift!). We have been eating Ukrainian food and it's good. Andrew is more daring and orders things new where as I pull out the dictionary and find chicken--I stick with that and Borshe (Ukranian Soup.
We have a flat to ourselves here and it's just across from the Marina, our temporary translator. We tried to get the TV to work--for noise more than anything (when you are used to living in the city near the airport the silence is just strange) but we couldn't get it to work. Finally we did but then it was all red and black-a little frustrating but no biggie. I was looking forward to watching a movie on the DVD on the computer but we can't get it to work. So... we had seriously from 6pm here til 10am the next morning. We just sat and stared at each other.... just kidding. Andrew did Rosetta stone and sounded hillarious while I read.
We are really excited for tomorrow as we are thinking that we will be boarding the train to go see Yuri after court. But again, we aren't sure about anything but court because we can't understand what she tells us.
Keep us in your prayers--hopefully this will go smoothly.
I hope this post makes sense as we are both extremely tired and a little slap happy. We've been in about 3 time zones in less than a week. :)
We did go to a shop today and bought Yuri a book--a classic Ukrainian children's book. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to explain what I was trying to do :) I kept picking up books that seemed appropriate but Marina said no no no or "neit niet" which sounds like the english word "neat" which means no. I finally gave up when Andrew and I realized that she thought the book was too young--not a totally bad idea as I'd thought.
Hmm what else... I guess I'm running out of time at the cafe.
The music here is awesome... just picture "night at the roxberry" haha
Love you all
We've been in Ukraine since yesterday but today is the first day I have been able to figure out how to update the blog.
We only have few minutes here but I am going to try to type as fast as I can.
We went to Amsterdam and Paris prior to arriving in Ukraine and we looooved both. Paris was everything it should be. We had a great hotel room also with a balcony overlooking the street. In all honesty we were very nervous what the room would be like--probably more me than Andrew as if it weren't for me he'd have stayed on the street with a sleeping bag so he could really experience the world. haha just kidding. But it was wonderful. We did all the touristy things of course. No way to update pics but will as soon as we return home. Amsterdam was great! We had a whole flat to ourselves overlooking the street. We felt like we lived there.. We had a lot of fun. Everyone in both places is really nice. French are not rude like everyone acts like they are.
Ok back to Ukraine... we have been here since yesterday afternoon. Our translator is sick or something and so she sent her friend until Monday. This is no problem but really quiet interesting as she speaks about 10 English words. It's been really funny. She has taken us all around today and shown us Kiev. I'm sure we stick out like a sore thumb as we are the only ones speaking English and walking around with our pocket translator (great gift!). We have been eating Ukrainian food and it's good. Andrew is more daring and orders things new where as I pull out the dictionary and find chicken--I stick with that and Borshe (Ukranian Soup.
We have a flat to ourselves here and it's just across from the Marina, our temporary translator. We tried to get the TV to work--for noise more than anything (when you are used to living in the city near the airport the silence is just strange) but we couldn't get it to work. Finally we did but then it was all red and black-a little frustrating but no biggie. I was looking forward to watching a movie on the DVD on the computer but we can't get it to work. So... we had seriously from 6pm here til 10am the next morning. We just sat and stared at each other.... just kidding. Andrew did Rosetta stone and sounded hillarious while I read.
We are really excited for tomorrow as we are thinking that we will be boarding the train to go see Yuri after court. But again, we aren't sure about anything but court because we can't understand what she tells us.
Keep us in your prayers--hopefully this will go smoothly.
I hope this post makes sense as we are both extremely tired and a little slap happy. We've been in about 3 time zones in less than a week. :)
We did go to a shop today and bought Yuri a book--a classic Ukrainian children's book. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to explain what I was trying to do :) I kept picking up books that seemed appropriate but Marina said no no no or "neit niet" which sounds like the english word "neat" which means no. I finally gave up when Andrew and I realized that she thought the book was too young--not a totally bad idea as I'd thought.
Hmm what else... I guess I'm running out of time at the cafe.
The music here is awesome... just picture "night at the roxberry" haha
Love you all
Saturday, July 12, 2008
2 Days to go....
Well the day has finally come...almost :)
We leave the country on Monday. We fly into Amsterdam then we are taking the eurorail to Paris for a couple days then back to Amsterdam for day and we leave for Kiev on the 19th. We will arrive in Kiev on the 19th and our court date is the 21st!
I would never have guessed that a week could go by so slowly. Seems like Monday was aaages ago.
But then again, we'd never have guessed the process would take quite this long. However, it is totally worth it.
Keep us in your prayers as we head out...we are very excited and hope to keep the blog updated as much as possible. We'd love to have you add comments as you have all been a part of this journey in so many different ways. That being said, thank you for all of your support. We can't wait for you to meet Yuri.
I just can't believe it's really time to go. Yippppeeeeeee
We leave the country on Monday. We fly into Amsterdam then we are taking the eurorail to Paris for a couple days then back to Amsterdam for day and we leave for Kiev on the 19th. We will arrive in Kiev on the 19th and our court date is the 21st!
I would never have guessed that a week could go by so slowly. Seems like Monday was aaages ago.
But then again, we'd never have guessed the process would take quite this long. However, it is totally worth it.
Keep us in your prayers as we head out...we are very excited and hope to keep the blog updated as much as possible. We'd love to have you add comments as you have all been a part of this journey in so many different ways. That being said, thank you for all of your support. We can't wait for you to meet Yuri.
I just can't believe it's really time to go. Yippppeeeeeee
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