Trick or treat. One batman, one overly used spiderman costume and one duck = Halloween 2006 in picture see photo album

Yesterday we went to lunch.  As Larry was pulling out (and mind you there was one lane of traffic and he was going with the flow), he said "what I am being pulled over!"?  So I looked in the mirror and sure enough the lights were on.  Now we had the kids and the mini van and I thought oh well one of those things- wrong place wrong time.  The lady patrol woman came slowly up the van looked in, saw the kids and asked Larry if he was aware he was doing 47 in a 35.  Larry said no I did not know I was over the speed limit and the lady took his license and went back to her patrol car.  Now mind you Larry and I have had our share of speeding tickets so we are not new to the game.  In fact you can say we are quite familiar with the whole process, although it has been many years since his last one (but not so many since mine).

 

Well anyway after about 5-10 minutes she came back to the van and said- I am giving you a "warning" be more careful please. 

 

What a "warning"?  This has never happened before in all of our previous stops in our pre-childdren years!  I thought to myself it must be the mini van and the kids.  He is now a family man, no longer the 18 year old boy that got two in one evening!  Totally funny. 

 

By the way what is the purpose of a "warning" ?  It is such an odd concept.  You are warned to be a better driver.  Just so weird and such a waste of time for everyone, but I will take the warning and keep our $150!!

 

 

So it was a rainy Friday night and we cooked some chicken and mac and cheese, played in the rain with unbrellas and took a warm bath, before settling down for a game of Chutes and Ladders and Candyland.   I had decided to make tonight special because a classic was coming on TV and we were popping popcorn and getting in covers on this fall night.  Yep it was The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and my boys loved it!!

What a great tradition.  Family night, then some popcorn and a classic by Mr Schultz.  Good times.

Last night I took Nikolai to see the symphony and choir of the Music Mission Kiev  http://www.musicmissionkiev.org/

 

It is a group from Kiev and it was terrific.  Nikolai was interested at the beginning, but then it got later and he began to get a bit antsy. So at intermission we excused ourselves and left.  But, it was sort of fun hearing the members talking Russian and the Conductor (American) talk about the sights and sounds of Kiev and the beautiful Opera House.  Now I wish we had gone to the Ballet or Symphony while we were there.  I really wanted to, but it was just not Larry's idea of fun times. 

 

Anyway the Music Mission was a nice production, and my dad even hosted a couple from the choir while they were in town.

 

 

Well Oksana has been home now a little over six months already!! 

 

She has blended into our family so easily that it is hard to remember when she wasnt a part of our lives.  We are so fortunate to have her in our family!  It has been said so many times that you travel at a certain time to adopt and delays and obstacles and waits are there for a reason.  The concept of destiny is huge when traveling blind to meet an unknown child.  The going notion is that your "child" to be isn't yet available for international adoption or their information just became open for adoption, etc.  Well Oksana's file had been available but I guess she was just waiting for us!

 

Which brings me to how our boys came into our lives.

 

Vitaly was not our first referral or second while in Ukraine.  To read Vitaly's story go here http://www.geocities.com/boomerseyler (the website is very outdated so be warned).  We actually had to travel to two other orphanages without success and lots of heartbreak.  It was a very trying time in our lives and I remember Larry turning to me and saying, if this third time we were not successful, then we would remain childless and raise border collie frisbee champions instead.  (It seems kind of funny now, but as you can see our "kids" before we adopted were our dogs).  Another hard part about it was during this time of adoptions, you were able to see many children at the orphanages, so it was rare to have families return childless.  Anyway our destiny time to adopt Vitaly was delayed for a reason.  This was because V was referred to another family during our first appointment, while we traveled unsuccessfully to another region.  But when the family met V, they decided he was too young (14mos) and adopted a six year old boy instead. (I know this because the family contacted me about him later.)  So when we came back for our third try at the adoption center to find a child, that is when his file was available again, and we accepted.  So in other words, the delay we had in country, was because V wasn't yet available for another week.

 

With Nikolai we traveled in hopes of adopting a girl, but when they showed us this little baby boy, we had to go see him.  It was our destiny.  It is very hard to turn a child down, because how do you know that is not your child? Well we knew brothers would be terrific and that it was supposed to be.  It was not in our hands, we were shown him for a reason, instead of a girl. 

 

So call it whatever you think it might be:  God's will, prayer, destiny, fate, circumstance, being in the right place at the right time, luck...it just is.

 

Also as a proud mommy, I wanted to add V did his first 5K walk/run last night.  He was very happy with himself and got a small trophy for it.  And, the most amazing things happened afterwards.  He came home, showed us his trophy, took his bath and fell right to sleep.  Now that is a miracle for my child that is always on the move

 

 

We had a great weekend lots of photos to share (marked October fun),  First we went to see our friend D and family to have our first Halloween kiddy party.  D has an awesome new playset and we had tons of fun and did some awesome games!  I even added D picture  in Spiderman gear because he is just too CUTE!  He was adopted a year ago from Ukraine-happy gotcha day and thanks for the awesome party!

 

Today we went to my dads for his annual hayride and bonfire.  It was definitely fall today because we had to dig out the winter goods.  We had a blast with everyone and O got to go on her first hayride driven by her grandpa.  But be careful O because when mommy was about eight or nine grandpa made her drive the tractor down a large hill and it got out of control and if grandpa hadnt run as fast as he did well.... the story might have ended long ago for mommy!

 

One extra great ending to the weekend  the OSU Buckeyes are still number one and the Bengals are still in the running!

 

Welcome fall

 

 

Okay so I was checking out the calendar and thought - no way something must be wrong- where did October go?  I am not kidding it has flown by!  I don't think I like this pace~

 

A few years ago Halloween meant Larry and I traveling with our friends to a haunted house or two and hanging out at bonfires with spiked cider and smores.  It also meant the annual adult costume dress-up!  We used to attend adult Halloween parties, and had so much fun dressing in some pretty stupid get-ups. 

 

But I  it is even more exciting now, when I can talk about what my children will be doing and wearing.  This weekend they are going to a kiddie Halloween party and to our annual family hayride gathering during the weekend. 

 

For Oksana, in our box of Halloween goodies, we found a duck costume (that was Vitaly's first costume) which she can wear.  We also found a lion costume (Vitaly's) that Nikolai wants to wear  (That is probably until he sees his brother's new one).   I have nothing yet for Vitaly, as he grows to fast to reuse his last years batman outfit.  I would love to dress my princess in a true girlie girl fashion, but I have a feeling I will have many of those expensive costumes in the future, so this year a duck she will be! 

 

By the way have you seen the price of costumes?  I saw this cheap fairy costume and guessed it was probably $9.99 and it was $19.99 for dollar store wings and wand and a tutu.  What about the days when we were young and we had to choose our outfits from the box of "stuff" my parents had stored in the attic.  I sort of like those days when creativity and your imagination played a role.  The days when witches, hobos, pirates and sheet ghosts ruled the sidewalks and were the norm. 

 

First my friends Amy and Mark and children are home!!! It took a long time but it is finally complete they are now a family.  I want to add that before Amy traveled she had called me and told me about how Whale had a sister and what should she do and I told her to contact M.

 

M did miracles for them and I mean she literally worked her behind off to get this child registered and ready for adoption and what needed to be legally filed.  Now for all of you that do not understand Ukraine and adoptions this was not a small feat.   But M worked her miracle and thanks to her hard work T is now here with her forever family that includes her bio brother. Thank you M!

 

In another scenario http://kimandbrad.blogspot.com/

are the most unselfish people I have ever seen.  Please read their comments section to understand the whole picture but a family tried to find them and did and told them that the children they were refered to adopt were somehow "technnically" theirs and to not adopt because they had met the girl via hosting.

 

Ukraine has a few circumstances to hold children, and T and Whale are one- a known sibling of an adopted child.  Sometimes requests come in for hosted children but not sure on the technicalities.  Usually harder to adopt children like older (over 10 and boys over 8) are successful.

 

Less successful holding hosted unidentified children under 8, especially highly sought after sibling group of a healthy girl (7) and boy (5)

 

So Kim and Brad met these children and unfortunately a hosting parent found they were adopting them, and pleaded that they were their children. 

 

  Apparently the hosting family isnt even registered with Ukraine as adoptive parents.  The kids had a family ready to adopt and this other family tried to intervene for their own sake.    

 

I applaud Kim and Brad for their decision , but do not necessarily agree. 

 

This same sibling group will most likely be adopted way before the hosting couple ever arrives probably by a family that they cannot contact or have any info about before hand.  It is just the nature of the adoption process.

 

Hosting children is a wonderful thing but it does not guarantee you the rights to that child.  The purpose of hosting is to give a child with nothing an opportunity at a few weeks of something; and maybe (IF they are adoptable from Ukraine) a new forever family - whoever that might be. 

 

Good luck Kim and Brad we are praying for you.  You will be blessed.

 

So please join me in wishing Kim and Brad prayers to find their children in their appointment number two on Monday.

I am on a few groups regarding adopting and one of my favorites is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motherswantingdaughters/

 

The women here are outstanding and so supportive thank you all

 

So they were having a discussion about dreams of your daughter and this is what I replied and frankly it took me a long time to come to terms with what a mom should dream a child should be.  Heck adoption is better than bio because we can pick and choose so why did I choose SN as the odd term goes....

 

Here is my response

 

My dreams before I traveled: Blonde hair and striking blue eyes and
about 14 mos old who would be tall and skinny and the next
supermodel (hey these are dreams...)

When I traveled blind to Ukraine for my daughter who would be
classified as SN (special needs) I did not know what to expect. At
the last minute I decided on SN because I was told I would not be
able to adopt otherwise in Ukraine this year due to the closure. So
we talked about it and said why not (because I had met a girl
previous that I had wanted to adopt with one leg but had since been
adopted) I was actually looking for missing limbs but cleft was one
of those issues I never had really considered. To me the cleft
children sometimes could look well a bit "off" from the norm. Then
when I went I was presented with two options in the end. One had a
beautiful picture of a little girl missing half of both her legs and
one was a newborn picture of a little girl with cleft lip/p. I was
taken aback by the Cleft picture because it looked like it
overwhelmed this little girl; yet because I did not SEE the little
girl missing her legs in the picture I was more drawn to how she
smiled. After conversing with the all of the people at the adoption
center they were PUSHING me very hard to see this wonderful, healthy
cleft child that was beautiful and just needing surgery. Yet I
could not get the newborn picture out of my head. I finally said
yes and got on a train for twelve hours to see a girl that I had no
idea if I could look at when she came out. I struggled and I prayed
and I said this is NOT what I had dreamed about when I began this
journey. Will I be a good enough person to look past the physical
imperfection and see the beautiful healthy child inside??

This being my third adoption I thought perhaps I could handle the
pressure of the first "glimpse"

When Oksana came into the Directors office my back was too her.

I heard my husband say "Hi Oksana" and I almost fainted. I said to
myself react the way you are supposed to and it will work out.
Then I slowly turned and there was the most beautiful "SN" child I
had ever seen. Sure she had a small cleft lip but that did not
deter me from the big blue eyes, shy glance and small fingers that
grasped her caregivers hand in sheer fright of these strangers.

I thanked God for giving me the strength to see the heart of the
child and the shell that just needed a little mending. At that
moment I knew that perhaps my soul needed a little mending as well.
It was a wake me up that said perhaps I needed to quit judging a
child by its outer shell and see the Angel within. Too many times
we go into the adoption with the notion of what society thinks is
the perfect child when perhaps the perfect child is like us all with
small imperfections needing a few bandages.

When we were in Ukraine they repaired her lip (without pain meds
might I add after the surgery) and we saw her the next day. In a
filthy hospital crib laid a scared little girl all bandaged around
her mouth. I looked down and she looked at me as if too say WHY? I
grabbed her hand and she stared at me with those eyes and in that
instance I knew.. This is what it is all about. The eyes and soul
of a child needing love and reassurance that tomorrow will be a
better day. We had just had court and I said to her you do not
understand yet but today you have a mommy and daddy and two brothers
and two dogs. Today you have a family. Today you became my
daughter. I think she understood because her scared little eyes
never left mine and her fingers never loosened.

And at that moment, I finally understood what it meant to have a
daughter.

Leanna

Just for fun for Friday

 

Okay here is a little quiz for Friday; and because I have a three day weekend (since Christopher Columbus sailed his way to America).

 

So for all of you lurkers out there, I am ready to read your responses:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.  We were not allowed to watch much TV but I always loved Little House on the Prarie (Still do).  I wanted to be Laura Ingalls and be able to brush my long long hair 100 strokes per night. 

 

2.  Well the ones I do not do because I do not like them (the manly type chores):  like mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges or picking up the doggies p**p!

 

3.  Our footrest  for our armchair because the dogs keep chewing on it, so we have to cover it with a blanket.

 

4.  I like Bad Day by Daniel Powter and Chasing Cars by Ski Patrol

 

What about you?

 

Over the weekend we had some soccer games and we went to a huge Oktoberfest in Minster Ohio.  Now we have been to Munich and enjoyed visting the Hofbrau House but this little town has a great Oktoberfest and we enjoyed the food and crafts.  Oksana has a Chicken Dance Elmo that our wonderful friend Kim has given us and the first time she watched Elmo do it she was hooked!  So as we were listening to the music and dancing with the kids O heard her first rendition of the real Chicken Dance and began to flap her arms.  Very funny.  At the same time Vitaly was playing the kazoo with the band and Nikolai was hanging out.

 

There are also pictures of the soccer games.  And just for note Vitaly took the picture of Oksana with mama in the flowers.

 

 Oh and in case you did not know (took me a few tries) the far right arrow will enlarge the pictures when you click the arrow.

 

 

I came across this link to photos taken by Joseph Swyenkyj, who photographed chilldren and adults who were exposed to Chernobyl radiation and those with HIV.  It is called the Forgotten Ukrainians, Chornobyl and AIDS.  Each picture has a small story or caption below it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So over the weekend I was blog surfing and came across this weird little sight linked.  It is called

 

  http://www.findyourfate.com/deathmeter/deathmtr.html

 

And here is the end result of my quiz: Your Armageddon's day is May -9 2059 .