Things I Just NEVER Expected...

Ok I think I am strong enough now to post this blog without crying through the whole thing! From start to finish this entire trip was nothing like I expected it to be! Most the trip and everything that went on for the Ukraine side of things. Now most of you are going to be broken hearted as I am but our “Gotcha Day” was like a tornado and it blew by before we were able to get pictures or anything. I think Shelly and Danna may have snapped a few but I have nothing!!! As we post previously we got news that the kids passport were done and we would have them Monday and then be on the overnight train to Kiev. So that meant getting the kids out Monday afternoon… PERFECT!!! Fred and I packed everything and we were ready to go when we went to get the kids at 1pm Monday March 14th, but we got a call that the passports were not ready and that we might have to wait another night… fine no problem! We went and got the kids; we went to Cole’s room first, he was the only baby in the room and there were only two ladies working when we showed up. Sadly like every day before there was NO emotion, the lady took the cloths walked over to Cole (swinging in a swing) grabbed him out, by the hands, and went in back to change him. She then brought him out and handed me him and his mittens and that was it. Really she just said bye and closed the door.
Next we went to Rorieann’s room, still no other kids out but a whole group of women working???? They took her cloths and went to change her. When they brought her out they were all smiling and said bye and that was that. We were FREE… free to un-layer them… free to leave and NEVER come back… but wait a minute now what? Here I am in a crazy mixed up country, I can’t speak the language let alone understand the writing and I know nothing about these two precious kids schedule or routine. Everytime I asked they would say “Oh we will let you know before you leave with them, we will give you a list of foods they can eat”… I never got a list. So here I am a new Mom with a new Dad and two children that need to eat… but what do they eat? When do they sleep, how do they sleep? I felt like I was thrown in with the lions. We were beyond happy to have our kids in our arms and be walking out of that place but now we had to wait to see about the passports. We got a call saying that they still we not ready but they would call to check on them and try to get us on the late train but that we should be ready! Well about 15mins after that call when we all sat down for lunch we got another call, passports are done and the drivers are on their way we should be ready in 20mins. Drivers showed up in 10mins and we were gone in 20mins. 20 mins to make sure we have everything, gather ourselves together and say our good-byes to the family that took such good care of us for 6weeks. I’ll be honest it was nothing but a tear fest!!!! From that moment on we didn’t stop… We ran to the train, just making it in time, we did get some things from the bazaar for the kids to eat and just prayed it was some that would fill them up until we could get help in Kiev.
I just never expected to be so emotional, from start to finish your emotions are all over the place. I never expected that going home would be so hard, I thought once we were going home I would just be so happy that nothing else would matter. It’s more complicated than that, going home was strange because it’s not like I’m going back home to my life… my life has changed now, my life now includes two beautiful children that ARE my life. I never expected that when I came home I would have to learn to breath again, I have been holding my breath and my feeling back for so long that now how do I… how do ????
I am sooooooo happy to be a Mom and every time I look at their faces I just think I never expected that I could LOVE something or someone this much!!!! This trip was the HARDEST thing I have EVER had to do but to hold them close and know that they are mine… I would take this trip a thousand more times!!!!

Here are some pictures we were able to take once we were on the train and things were calm!!!

Getting Close...

We are in our final hours. We are so close to being home, I think we can almost taste the Qdoba from here!!! We left a lot of friends and family back in region, but I think it will be nice to finally get home. Amanda is packing our bags, I think we are leaving all of our clothes here. We want to make sure that we have enough room for the kids stuff and gifts that were given to us. Plus we are bring two kids back this time through the airport which makes luggage an interesting challenge. Thank you all for your love, prayers and support! Next time we talk we will be stateside!!!! Until then.....

A Light at the end of the tunnel...literally!

Well...we are on the over night train to get back to Kiev! The train is nice and Cole is already asleep. Rorie on the other hand, I think stays up all night like daddy. I am going to keep this short and sweet but thanks for all of your prayers!!! Talk to you in Kiev!

Where are we now???

Sorry we haven't updated our blog in a few days, it has been CRAZY here!!! On Wednesday we started our final paperwork run in region. What we thought would be one day of running around and then we would be done, turned into 2 ½ days but it all got done! I have to Thank God for the team we have working with us the kids passports were not going to be accepted but our facilitator made a call and… WA-LA!!!! Our facilitator was ABSOLUTLY AMAZING, she had to work (balance) with both us and the Burman Bunch at the same time, she was up all three days by 5am and ran around like a chicken with her head cut off, dodging bullets until 7at night then went back to her hotel to organize all four kids paperwork and help families that are preparing their dossiers back in the states! I’m telling you “Amazing” doesn’t begin to describe it!!! Then we were told that the soonest the passports would be done would be 5 days, that would have put us at this week Thursday. As we were pouting about the news, God was working!!!!! We got a call on Saturday that our passports were done and were expected to be in region Monday (today)!!! So today, Monday March 14th 2011, will be our “GOTCHA DAY”!!!

Also the orphanage has been quarantined so it has been hard to see the kids, which actually worked out cuz all we have been doing the last few days is packing and saying good-bye to our visiting “Church Family” and our new Ukraine (Crimean Tartar) family! I think I could write a book on all the blessing God has given us! I have wanted to go home so bad that I never thought of all that I will miss. This place has been my home for 40 LOOOONNGGGGG days and now that it’s time to say good-bye, I find it a little hard to do so!!!!! The family that we are staying with had us over last night and we played games until 2am… Laughing and crying! They told us after 40 days we have become their family… how do I say Good-bye to my new family??? I guess leaving this country is going to be harder than I thought!!!!

I am hoping to update the blog after we have sprung the kids but if everything goes as planned (PLEASE pray) we will be on the 4:00pm train bound for Kiev!!! So I will update the blog Tuesday!! I hope to get some “GOTCHA DAY” pics posted ASAP… but please bear with me!!!

Father Daughter Dance!!!

We took this video of Fred and Rorie's first father daughter dance! I love it!!! I will post an update later tody so stay poted & ENJOY!!!

Crazy Running...

Today was... interesting!!! Like most thing we have done here today went nothing like I thought it would! I was really sick last night and barely slept but had to be up and running at 8:30am. I felt much better once we got going, first road block of the day was getting the court decree. We got to the court house and our papers weren't ready so we had to sit in a freezing car and wait (the story of this trip)poor Luda was just running around getting copies made and taking care of everything I wished there was someting Fred or I could have done to help besides sitting in the car waiting. We waited at the court house for about 1hour and 45mins and I had to pee so bd it felt more like 5hrs!!! Finally I looked at Fred and said you need to call Luda and ask where a bathroom is i think I'm gonna explode!!!! Praise God Arturo (our driver) knew that there was a bathroom right across the street, I cant tel you hoe GREAT it felt... sorry prolly TMI but its the truth!!! Then with frozen feet we were off the Rorie's birth place which was very close to the Black Sea, so we got so nice pics I guess!



Then back to region to get Cole's birth certificate. We went to the Tax office for the kids Tax numbers, then to the notary (which always takes for ever!!!!) While we were waiting outside the notary office our driver turned on "Titanic" in russian!!!! Last we went to the Social Workers office for some more paperwork and we were back to the apt but 6pm!!! I really felt for Luda she took the overnight train then ran around with us ALL DAY and still had to organize all our paperwork and the Burman's paperwork for tomorrow. And she has a full day of running with us and the Burmans tomorrow!!! The worst thing about today was that we didn't get to see the kids all day long, we havent gone a whole day without seeing them since we got here I can't tell you how weird it is!!! We didnt get every thing done that we need to we will finish everthing tomorrow I hope at least get the passports done because those take the most time to get done and I want... no I NEED to go home now!!! So thats where we sit I'll keep u posted on where we go tomorrow!!!!

Cole and His Hats...

Got bored this afternoon and threw this together...Hope you enjoy!

SOME GREAT PICTURES!!!!!

I love these two litte ones soooooo much I just can't imagine my life with out them... I think they are KEEPERS!!!

Videos...

Today it was so nice we got to go out and swing on the swing set!!! I think the kids liked it????

Videos...

Here are the videos we promised... ENJOY

Rorie is learning how to brush hair... her hair, Mama's har & Daddy's hair???...

It's Finally Warm!!!

So today it finally warmed up again. We had the one day last week that it was almost 50, but quickly faded away to a week of chilly 30 degree weather. This morning we were allowed to take the kids outside to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having. Last nights visit went well and this mornings visit was interesting to say the least. We asked Rorie's caretakers if we could go outside for a walk and they said yes. They changed her diaper and handed Amanda a scarf and let us take her. This is very odd, because usually they bundle the kids up beyond belief to go upstairs and sit on a couch. Now, we are going outside and they just let her go...go figure :)! I go upstairs to get Cole and ask his workers if we can go outside, they say yes. One goes to change his diaper while another one comes with the calendar to ask us when we are leaving. This is kinda of odd because this is the second time that Cole's group has asked me when we are leaving...maybe they just want to get rid of us!! It's ok with me, cause I wanna go too!! LOL.

After our morning visit, Amanda and I hopped the bus and headed into the city center again becaue it was such a beautiful day and we love walking around downtown. We took a bunch of amazing photographs that will make it into the slideshow we will be showing at church the first week we get home. We stopped at my favorite pizza place agian, Celentano's. I just love it there, and we can both eat a big lunch for about $8, win win in my book!

Finally we came home and Amanda started going through all of the video that we have taken over the last two days. Amanda got a Flip for Christmas and that is what we have been taking all of our pictures on. It is really nice because it is a HD video recorder. Out of the video clips you can go frame by frame and select pictures to pull out. This is where all of our pictures have come from. Amanda is such an amazing and patient woman to go through all of that video. I think from when we got here to date we have approximately 3 hours of video footage that Amanda has poured over to pull out the pictures that have been emailed out and posted on the blog for you all to see, THANK YOU AMANDA!!

Well, we are getting ready to leave for our afternoon visit, so I am going to leave you with these. First, please keep us in your prayers. We are praying for a fast passport turn around for the kids so we can make our return ticket date of March 16th. If not, thats ok, but it would save us a ton of money. Also, Saturday March 19th is our Milwaukee Regional Awana Games and I would like to make it back for (because I help judge the event). Sunday March 20th I am scheduled to preach at church and that night I am to return back to work. I know everything can be moved and rescheduled, but Amanda and I are ready to come home.

I am having trouble uploading the videos so check back...I am going to try and reupload them when we get home. Until we talk again.....

Hanging Out

So we found out Sunday night that because of Women's Day here in Ukraine we will have a bit of a delay, This is a huge thing here I guess the whole city shuts down to honor women (Maybe America should take the tip!!!!). It is very frustrating have to wat yet again but we will REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS!!!!! One positive is that when we originally booked out tickets, we set a return date of March 16th because it was much cheaper than buying an open ended ticket. Well, with the delay now we are going to be pretty close to that date so it should save us some money as long as we don't have to change our travel date, Please keep that in prayer!

Visits are going well. Each day it seems that the kids are getting better and better. Rorie gets so excited when we come to her room to pick her up for our visit time. Cole is getting more attentive each passing day. He has been sitting up more and engaging a lot more which is exciting to see.

As you can see, we have just been hanging around here waiting. With the delay, it is possible that we wouldn't have to change our plane tickets which would be nice and save us about $600, but the passports for the kids have to get turned around really quick in order for us to make that date. Please continue to pray for us and for the passports and rest of the paperwork to get done quickly so we can make it home. Thanks for all of your support and prayers. Until we talk again....

Half Way Through the Waiting Period...

So, it is official, we are half way through our waiting period. It seems like just yesterday we landed in Kiev and had the 5 weeks in front of us. We found out that March 8th is Ladies Day here in Ukraine which is similar to Mothers Day back in the States. No one works and it is going to add an extra day in waiting for the kids passports.

This week we have had some amazing visits with the kids. Cole is starting to be more attentive and talkative. We can't wait to get him home to his bumpo seat and jumper where he can really thrive. Rorie is being as talkative as ever. Every day she is practicing her "pouting" whine to see what she can get away with. She is such a doll and has such a personality. Lately Rorie and I have been playing copy cat (there is only so much you can do when all you are allowed to do is sit on a couch). Each day I add something new and so far she as remembered all 5 things that we have added over the last week. She is so smart!!!

Amanda and I went to the town center to walk around and look at the Bazzar and some of the marketplaces. The center has a very large underground bazzar that we were excited to walk through. It has somewhere around 300 or so little shops under the street and they are all the same. Your options were sunglasses, cell phone electronics, crazy trinkets, hats, and ladies underware.

On a good note, I think I have to admit to an addiction that I have. The other day when we were walking through the bazzar by the orphanage I broke down and bought a russian Monopoly game. For those of you that know me, I am utterly enthralled with the game. It started when I was younger and we used to go down to my great grandparents house in Illinois for holidays. I learned how to play with my grandpa and my grandmas brother who now lives in Ohio. Once my great grandma died, I received that old Monopoly game that I learned how to play on. Amanda, for Christmas that year, got a 3D frame and mounted the game and it is now hanging on our living room wall. This game is so special to me first of all because it is the board that I learned how to play on, and second it is from 1942 when the guy that developed the game was still selling them before Hasbro bought the rights and started mass producing them. Now I have a russian one to put into a 3D box and hang it up next to that old Monopoly game as another page in our lives.

We keep trying to find fun things to do. Time is moving very slowly and we have already watched all of the movies that we brought with us and the ones the Burmans bought along and left with us while they went home. Please keep us in our prayers as we are getting very antsy to bring our kids home. Please be praying that all of the paperwork goes smoothly as it has to go through two different governments in order for it to be complete. We are in a republic within a republic. It definitely make life interesting! Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. Until we talk again next time....

Enjoying Our Time!!!

Ok question for the Mommies and Daddies that have been here; as you know there are A LOT of dogs that roam free here. Did you notice that some people have dogs as pets… but there are two different ways that they treat their "pet" dogs? They either love them to the extreme of dressing them up or they have them around more as a garbage disposal… it reminds me of the Flinstones!!! Member they had that pig or warthog that lived under their sink and any leftovers or spoiled food was given to the pig… that is what it reminds me of over here!!!! LOL

Last night was GREAT… We went to our visit and then we went to Bible study!! The study was so GREAT we were in Titus 3:1-7. Fred and I were both a little convicted, we have been so focused on people and the way they were acting towards us but we never once stopped and thought about the way were might have been acting to them. Aren’t “WE” to be the light to the lost??? Weren’t we once just like the lost??? So how can we condemn them for what they don’t know??? How can we condemn them for what we aren’t teaching or showing??? We have gotten really good at complaining about our situation and the people that are “controlling it”, but are we looking for what God is trying to teach us in this situation??? We are now and I’m sorry for the hateful attitude I have had up until now!!! After Bible study one of the pastors and his wife took us out for pizza, we had a really nice time and they were able to give us some tips of different places to go and see before we go home. They also shared a few funny adventure of their own when they first came here from America!!! It’s good to know we are not the only ones!!!

This morning Fred and I over slept so we got up quick and flew to the orphanage to see our beautiful babies. I have to share these two videos that I took. The first one is of Cole; he has very little trunk support so we are doing our best to start working on it without the ad of a Bumpo set. (I have 2 at home and I think it will help soooo much but until then…) Cole also really didn’t respond to my voice, he can hear because I do snapping and clapping and he looks right away but when I look at him and say “Hello” there was just nothing there at all. SLOWLY I think he is waking up, I have gotten an occasional grin but this kid LOVES my kisses. Just watch!!!




Rorie is just the funniest character I have EVER met! She is very smart and LOVES to copy, we have been working on this the last few days I remember when my cousin Christopher was a baby my Grandma (who is with the Lord now) taught him to do “Baa-Baa”. When I first started to teach Rorie I thought of my Grandma and how much she would just get a kick out of this kid, she used to laugh so hard when Chris did a “Baa-Baa” and I miss that!!! So in a way I think I’m keeping her spirit alive!!!! ENJOY Rorie’s “Baa-Baa”!!!

What a Beautiful Day!!!

Well, our second half left us this morning... SAD!!! The Burmans flew to Kiev this morning and will head home for their 10 day wait tomorrow!!! I'm so jealous even if their home is in TEXAS!!! LOL!!! Please pray for a safe trip home and a safe trip when they come back!




This morning when Fred and I woke up we woke up to a BEAUTIFUL surprise... The sun was shining and the weather was absolutely gorgeous! It was at least 45 degrees if not warmer!!! When we went to visit the kids this morning it was different… I can’t really explain it, but the spirit of the place was new. We asked Rorie’s caregivers if it was ok if we took her out for a walk, she has had a runny nose the last few days so I wasn’t sure if they would let her but they did!!! They bundled her up like it was below 0 out and they told me to keep her hands covered. Then they brought out a wool blanket and wrapped her in it… CRAZY!!! I don’t think Cole goes out very often I think he may have been over loaded with all that was around him… poor guy! We will definitely change that, Fred and I are outdoors kinda people!!!






When we were on the bus home Fred noticed the flags hanging from the bus driver’s rear view mirror, what’s wrong with this picture???




If you didn’t see it there is a Marlboro flag hanging at the end on the right side then right in the middle is a flag that says NO SMOKING!!! LOL!!! I gotta send this pic to the Ellen Show!!! Tonight we are going to Bible study then out to dinner with the assistant Pastor, I think for PIZZA!!!! YUMMMMMMM!!!

The "FINAL COUNTDOWN"!!!

Our first days as "Offical" parents... still feels the same I don't think I will REALLY feel anything until I can actually take them home with me!!! Today was very calm... we went to our morning visit and it was GREAT!!! The kids were very alert and happy. Then we came back to our appartment and I took a nap (NOT like me at all, but I'm NOT the same person that came to this country!) Fred went to the Bazar and picked up some odds and ends but the meat market wasn't opened today so he couldn't make plov for dinner.

This is what the meat market looks like when it is open




After my nap I got up and CLEANED!!! I did the dishes, I hand washed some clothes and I cleaned up the front hall... Ahhhhhhhhhhhh it felt sooo GREAT!!!!!! I miss cleaning my house but soon I'll be home and wishig I had nothing to clean! We went to our evening visit which was also GREAT and when we got home Shelly and Brian were back from court. There were a few bumps but they were declared Mama and Papa of Carrigton and Reagan!!!! And Shelly was a little bummed because they are going home for the 10day wait but when she comes back she would miss her sons first T-Ball game and her daughters play and she has been away from them for a month! Here's the blessing, in Ukraine they celabrate Lady's Day March 8th so that will delay thier process just enough so that Shelly will be able to be home for both the pay and the T-Ball game!!!! I'm soooo happy for her!!! That's all for today... I will leave you with two videos from our morning visit today!

It's the Karol & Karol & Karol & Karol SHOW!!!

It is offical we are now a complete family...


Let me introduce Rorieann Christine Karol



And Cole Lewis Karol



Oh it feels sooooo good to say that but it's hard to feel like we are really parents. I think it will hit me when we have them in our arms and we can leave this crazy place!!! I didn't sleep very well last night which I'm sure makes a lot of sense!!! We got up this morning and I was not yet feeling better so we took it easy and slow. My stomach was flipping. I have NEVER been in court, not even on a field trip, so I had this terrifing image in my head like on Law & Order. When we finally got into the room it was more like the court room you would have seen on the Any Griffith Show. LOL!!! The judge came in at about 2pm and asked us to "explain" what we were doing here... Marina helped ask us questions that the judge would have wanted to hear about. The social worker and the orphange attorney both gave us positive reviews. They both suggested that it was in the childrens best intrest that we be allowed to adopt them!!! That put us at ease but not a person in the room smiled AT ALL. The whole thing was about 45 or 50 minutes in all, then we waited for about an hour and a half for the judge to come back and declare her decison. She came back and read the longest mumbo jumbo I have ever heard. I didn't even realize what her decision was until Marina said "Say Thank You"! We were done in just enough time to make it to our afternoon visit, when I went to Rorie's room to get her I picked her up and everyday when I pick her up I take her hand and pat it on my chest and say Mama... today I just said Mama and she patted my chest all on her own!!! It melted my heart!!! Thank you for all the prayers so far we are half way done now just the 10 day wait and then 7 to 9 days of paperwork and then "Home again Home again jigity jig!"

Home Sick

As you can see, we are a little home sick, so I found some ground beef in the market and we grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs the other day. Grilling here is much different and makes me miss my grill back home. The picture below is of a window

in the orphanage. The inside of orphanage is a beautiful building. This was not really what we expected, we were told it is the poorest orphanage in the country and the kids live in their own feces. The complete opposite is true here. There is a pretty nice playground outside and there is always someone cleaning or mopping the floors every other day. The workers here are mostly nice to us, but the overwhelming feeling of the special needs children being useless is still prevalent.

We went to church today, it was really good to be able to fellowship with other believers in the body of Christ. Also, Amanda got strep throat today. She did bring antibiotics along with us, so hopefully catching this realatively early, she can get rid of this fairly quickly.

Tomorrow is court, so please be praying for us. We have no idea what to expect any more, because everything that was told to us, has not been the way it was explained. We know the issue with Tanya living with us is going to come up and we are going to have to explain it all over agian. We are just taking this one day at a time so please keep us in your prayers. Until we speak again.....

Are They Ours Yet?

So another Saturday come and gone and looking at the calendar, we have been here 3 weeks already! It is very disheartening too see other families that have come after us already home on their 10 day waiting period and we are still sitting around waiting for our court date. To say the least I am very disappointed in this facilitation team! But Amanda and I are making the best out of the situation that we have been put in. The Burman's and Amanda and I get up every morning and just laugh because we figure it can't get any worse than it is. Please continue to pray for the Burmans as they have been away from home a month now and I can't imagine the toll it is taking not only on them, but their children back in the States.

On a good note, the Burmans celebrated their wedding anniversary yesterday. Tonight for dinner, mama and I got together and made a HUGE spread. Alim made shashliek on the grill
and I gave them a taste of good old fashioned southern barbeque. I made Memphis country style pork ribs. Babooshka and mama thought I was crazy putting sugar in a rub for the meat. When it was all said and done, it was a big hit. I did get the recipie for the marinade that they used to make the shashliek with, it was amazing! As you can see from the pictures, our visits have been going extremely well. The first picture of Rorie was absolutely hilarious. We took my backpack with some toys for the kids to play with. Rorie scooted over to the backpack and proceeded to pull all of the toys out of the backpack and threw them all over the floor. Then, instead of playing with the toys, tried to climb into the backpack. With a little help from mama, well...you can see the result. So attention all family and friends, when her birthday comes around in June, we would just like backpacks for her! hahaha. The second picture is the kids in hats that my mother made for them. The running joke about Cole's hat is that is it very bright colors so we don't lose him in the snow! It has been pretty warm here, so we are going to have to wait until we get home to drop him into a snow bank to see if we can find him :)

We got a phone call last night and the facilitator told us that our court date changed AGAIN. This time it is moved back to Monday at 1:15pm. I am really glad that we are staying the whole time and not going home for the 10 day waiting period. It would be too late to book tickets back home at a decent price, and our court date has been moved so many times, we would have paid $1000 in ticket change fees. Unbelievable...well, I guess it is just another blessing the Lord was watching out for us. Thank you for all the prayers, but to whoever is praying for patience ... QUIT IT!!! hahaha we have had enough waiting, we want this over and done with so we can bring the kids home! On a more serious note, we do thank everyone for the prayers and thoughts as we continue to push forward toward the goal. Please keep praying for our attitudes as it is frustrating every day. Pray for the Lord's provision and currently we are a week over the schedule we were given and possibly looking at being here an extra week. But on the positive side, we have been here 3 weeks and it looks like 3 more weeks to go, so we are at least half way. Please continue to pray for the Burmans as they continue with delays that far excede ours. Pray for their family and it has to be hard to be away from 5 kids at home. Thank you so much and until next time we speak again.....

Daddy playing with the KIDS!!!

We had a GREAT visit this evening both of the kids were VERY active which was GREAT!!! Fred did some bonding with both kids and it was soooooo GREAT to see!!!


I have a little funny story to share... yesterday when we went to our afternoon visit I was waiting for the caregivers to bring me Rorie and Fred went to get Cole but PRAISE GOD Alim was with me because the caregivers were trying to ask if I wanted Rorie's hair cut and Alim explained what they were saying... I said NO!!!!!!! And I'm glad I did because when we brought her back to her groupa the other kids hair was scary... it looked like thier hair was cut with a hack saw!!! The only kids with hair in that groupa is Rorie and Noah!!!


Good news... we HEARD that our court date is Tuesday at 3:00pm... I pray that it doesn't change, I just don't know if I can handle any more change!!! I made a "deal" with God, I am gonna look at everything with a positive view and I'm determind to look back on this experience and be able to smile and in return God is gonna get me outta here!!!!!! JK!!! PRAISE GOD I can still have a sense of humor about all this!!!