We are just past the midpoint for Olga's stay on this hosting trip. This is both good and bad. Olga has had a great time on her trip so far, although I believe having her brother and sister home all day every day is getting to be a bit much for her. Okay, I won't lie. It's a bit much for me, too. :) I'm not sure why the two week break over Christmas is so much more crazy than the eight week break over summer. Perhaps it's just the excitement of Christmas combined with the fact that it is hard to get outside to do things. In the summer I pretty much open the door to the backyard and let them go play. We also have a lot more outdoor activities to look forward to during the summer months like swimming, bike riding, trail walking/exploring, Six Flags, White Water, road trip to FL to see Grammy, etc...
Anyway, back to Olga. She very much enjoyed her Christmas. She received three gift cards to three different stores and had a blast spending them. She had no idea what a gift card was, but quickly learned. She was so excited to be able to buy about a million pairs of earrings at Claire's for herself and to take back to Ukraine to give to her friends as gifts. Same purchase with her Wal-Mart gift card. Her Kohl's gift card was harder to spend because she really wanted jeans and couldn't find any that she liked. But she managed to spend it on a cool new jacket, a couple of shirts and yes, more earrings! I teased her after her shopping expedition that she had enough earrings to put in a new pair every hour. She thought that was pretty funny.
Now that the excitement of Christmas has passed Olga has had some time to come to the reality that she really misses her friends and even her teachers. She wanted to call one of her teachers the other day and I had to tell her no (NHFC rules). I told her she could write a letter instead. She was excited to be able to do that until she sat down to actually write. She couldn't think of any Russian words. She can rattle off a ten minute conversation in Russian on the phone with her chaperone, but when it came to actually writing it, she couldn't do it.
I think she is also very sad about not being in Ukraine for their biggest holiday of the year: New Years Eve/Day. In Ukraine Christmas is celebrated on January 7 and it isn't really a big celebration. Their New Year celebrations are a huge deal. The students at her school always do dance performances and participate in New Year preparations. I think she is really, really missing that right now.
Olga returns to Ukraine two weeks from tomorrow and Jeff and I leave for Ukraine four weeks from today. As excited as I believe Olga will be to come to America forever I can see now that it will be bittersweet. We will make sure to leave her friends lots of postage to be able to write to Olga here in America and of course she will be able to call & write to them as well.
Happy New Year to everyone!
S~
Friday, December 31, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Olga's First American Christmas
My eight year old tried to start Christmas Day out at 2:35 in the morning, but I told him it was a wee bit too early. It was a rocky night for everyone sleep wise, but we got up around 6:00am (I think) and the unwrapping frenzy began. The night before I had a conversation with Olga to try to give her an idea of what to expect on Christmas morning. I knew it would be chaotic and loud and I didn't want her to be overwhelmed. She seemed in awe of what I was telling her. She handled everything beautifully in the chaos and craziness of gift unwrapping. We don't sit around and hand each other gifts. We let the kids open what they what and in whatever order they desire so it seems like a bit of a free-for-all. One of the gifts to all three kids was "Just Dance 2" for Wii. I think she has already logged about 12 dancing hours using it. :) She also received one new outfit including earrings and necklace and a gift basket from Bath & Body Works. Shortly after gift opening was finished she made a bee-line for the shower and came down afterwards decked out in her new outfit and smelling like a rose. Okay, it wasn't really like a rose, but you know what I mean.
Then the cooking frenzy began. It's an all day cooking event for a 20 minute meal, but it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. It was wonderful to have friends and family over to help us celebrate Christmas. Olga got to meet her Grammy (Jeff's mom), Uncle Greg and her cousin Geoffry for the first time. And to top it all off we were able to experience the first white Christmas this area has seen in over 100 years! The kids got to make a snowman, too. It was nothing in comparison to Ukrainian snowfall, but for us Georgians it may as well have been a blizzard! It was a true blessing for all of us.
We have three weeks left until Olga returns to Ukraine, and five weeks until Jeff and I travel to Kiev for our SDA appointment. At some point I am going to have to get organized for extended travel! But for now I continue to procrastinate. :) My sister and brother-in-law gave Jeff and I "travel sheets" for our trip which was something I was going to look into, so I can check that off my list. I wonder what my chances are that someone else will organize everything we will need for me? I probably shouldn't hold my breath, huh?
I hope everyone had a wonderful and special day yesterday. I know I did!
S~
Then the cooking frenzy began. It's an all day cooking event for a 20 minute meal, but it is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. It was wonderful to have friends and family over to help us celebrate Christmas. Olga got to meet her Grammy (Jeff's mom), Uncle Greg and her cousin Geoffry for the first time. And to top it all off we were able to experience the first white Christmas this area has seen in over 100 years! The kids got to make a snowman, too. It was nothing in comparison to Ukrainian snowfall, but for us Georgians it may as well have been a blizzard! It was a true blessing for all of us.
We have three weeks left until Olga returns to Ukraine, and five weeks until Jeff and I travel to Kiev for our SDA appointment. At some point I am going to have to get organized for extended travel! But for now I continue to procrastinate. :) My sister and brother-in-law gave Jeff and I "travel sheets" for our trip which was something I was going to look into, so I can check that off my list. I wonder what my chances are that someone else will organize everything we will need for me? I probably shouldn't hold my breath, huh?
I hope everyone had a wonderful and special day yesterday. I know I did!
S~
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thank goodness one of my kids likes Shake & Bake Chicken! :)
I'm sure if Olga ever had dreams of having her very own family it probably included a mother who could actually cook. That wouldn't be me. I'm a terrible cook. I can bake the pants off just about anyone, but cooking is not something I have ever done well. I have a handful of dishes that I make that are, if I do say so myself, great! And I will be making every single one of those dishes for Christmas dinner. What I lack during the entire year in dinner making skills I make up for at one dinner. But I digress. Olga was introduced to two American staples today. Kraft Mac & Cheese and Shake & Bake Chicken. And no. Not at the same sitting. The Mac & Cheese was part of her lunch, which she really liked. The Shake & Bake was for dinner tonight. She poked at it and asked what it was with a worried look on her face. She started in on the broccoli first. Then the rice. Finally she took a little nibble of the chicken. And we have a winner! Wheh! You can probably figure out from the title of this post that R&M aren't too fond of Shake and Bake Chicken. Seriously, though. How many times can one eat spaghetti or grilled cheese for dinner?
Currently Olga and Jeff are out taking advantage of the late mall hours-open till 10:00 this week! It will be interesting to see what they come home with as Jeff has a really, really hard time saying "no" to her! I'm not great at it either, but I am able to do it when absolutely needed. I have a feeling Olga is going to learn very quickly that Daddy should always be with us when shopping. :) The sad thing with them going shopping together is that R really wanted to go. They were going to actually get him a specific toy for Christmas so he really couldn't go. Jeff told him that Olga wanted to go shopping to buy both R&M gifts, so Rhys accepted that he couldn't go graciously, but he is very, very sad now. :(
We have 26 days left with Olga here and 39 days until Jeff and I will be traveling to Ukraine! While I had originally been hoping for an SDA appointment at the same time that Olga went back I can honestly say now that I am going to need those two weeks to finish getting ready to travel. I am getting pretty much nothing accomplished these days. :) There is still that pesky moratorium vote that is scheduled for this week. You remember, the one that may or may not stop adoptions for an undisclosed period of time. Add that into the fact that the Ukraine Parliament just passed a new budget and decided to move the SDA under new management and have closed (or will close very soon) the SDA for the time being with no real timeframe for reopening and I guess you could say that nothing is written in stone. There is nothing we can do but move forward and pray that 1) the moratorium vote does not pass and 2) the SDA (or whatever it will be called under the "new management") will reopen quickly without disrupting our appointment of January 31. We actually have two sets of friends that have appointments during that time frame so we are all hoping and praying for this outcome!
That's all for now! Thanks for checking in on us!
S~
Currently Olga and Jeff are out taking advantage of the late mall hours-open till 10:00 this week! It will be interesting to see what they come home with as Jeff has a really, really hard time saying "no" to her! I'm not great at it either, but I am able to do it when absolutely needed. I have a feeling Olga is going to learn very quickly that Daddy should always be with us when shopping. :) The sad thing with them going shopping together is that R really wanted to go. They were going to actually get him a specific toy for Christmas so he really couldn't go. Jeff told him that Olga wanted to go shopping to buy both R&M gifts, so Rhys accepted that he couldn't go graciously, but he is very, very sad now. :(
We have 26 days left with Olga here and 39 days until Jeff and I will be traveling to Ukraine! While I had originally been hoping for an SDA appointment at the same time that Olga went back I can honestly say now that I am going to need those two weeks to finish getting ready to travel. I am getting pretty much nothing accomplished these days. :) There is still that pesky moratorium vote that is scheduled for this week. You remember, the one that may or may not stop adoptions for an undisclosed period of time. Add that into the fact that the Ukraine Parliament just passed a new budget and decided to move the SDA under new management and have closed (or will close very soon) the SDA for the time being with no real timeframe for reopening and I guess you could say that nothing is written in stone. There is nothing we can do but move forward and pray that 1) the moratorium vote does not pass and 2) the SDA (or whatever it will be called under the "new management") will reopen quickly without disrupting our appointment of January 31. We actually have two sets of friends that have appointments during that time frame so we are all hoping and praying for this outcome!
That's all for now! Thanks for checking in on us!
S~
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Home-Week One
I can't believe Olga has been here almost a week already! The time has flown by. We have had a wonderful week and are looking forward to watching her celebrate her first Christmas in America next week.
Olga has been practicing her English speaking skills using the Rosetta Stone set we bought for her. She is doing great with it! I think she was on it a little too long yesterday (3 hours!) as she got a little frustrated with it at the end, but she is excited about using it.
Today we went to the Welcome Party put on by New Horizons for Children. The only kids from her orphanage that are being hosted in this area are younger boys, so she didn't really see anyone she knew or was friends with there. Jeff and I had a chance to mingle with some other families that we met at the airport while we were all waiting for the kids to arrive, so that was nice for us.
Our two younger kids were in school all week so it was good "settling in" time for Olga. They are now out for Christmas break which will be great for us to spend time together as a family. I was able to take Olga to R&M's elementary school to see them during their holiday parties and introduce her to a few people along the way. We've done lots of typical "running around" this week and I'm sure next week will be much of the same. We were able to have lunch with friends and meet my mom (Grandmom) at the mall, which Olga was very excited about. Last night Jeff took O&R and one of R's friends from school and his older sister to play laser tag. They had a *blast* and Olga has a new American friend. I think they are already planning their summer at the pool. :)
America is a completely different culture than what Olga is used to. There are a few girls her age that are very excited to meet her and that just baffles her. I don't think kids in Ukraine want to just be your friend when you've never met them before. I am so happy that she had such a great time with her new friend last night. There is another girl in the neighborhood who goes to the same school that Olga will go to and will even ride the same bus to school. I am hoping to be able to introduce her to that girl very soon. It will be so good for Olga to know a few girls her age before she has to jump into a huge American school!
Olga is very excited to go to church tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with seeing her friends she made over the summer than going to hear the word of God, but that is okay for now. Then in the afternoon one of the friends she is so excited to see will be having a birthday party that we get to go to! Olga is really soaking all of this in and is so, so happy to be here.
And that has been our week so far. Nothing too exciting. Just so very happy to have our girl home.
Will update again soon!
S~
Olga has been practicing her English speaking skills using the Rosetta Stone set we bought for her. She is doing great with it! I think she was on it a little too long yesterday (3 hours!) as she got a little frustrated with it at the end, but she is excited about using it.
Today we went to the Welcome Party put on by New Horizons for Children. The only kids from her orphanage that are being hosted in this area are younger boys, so she didn't really see anyone she knew or was friends with there. Jeff and I had a chance to mingle with some other families that we met at the airport while we were all waiting for the kids to arrive, so that was nice for us.
Our two younger kids were in school all week so it was good "settling in" time for Olga. They are now out for Christmas break which will be great for us to spend time together as a family. I was able to take Olga to R&M's elementary school to see them during their holiday parties and introduce her to a few people along the way. We've done lots of typical "running around" this week and I'm sure next week will be much of the same. We were able to have lunch with friends and meet my mom (Grandmom) at the mall, which Olga was very excited about. Last night Jeff took O&R and one of R's friends from school and his older sister to play laser tag. They had a *blast* and Olga has a new American friend. I think they are already planning their summer at the pool. :)
America is a completely different culture than what Olga is used to. There are a few girls her age that are very excited to meet her and that just baffles her. I don't think kids in Ukraine want to just be your friend when you've never met them before. I am so happy that she had such a great time with her new friend last night. There is another girl in the neighborhood who goes to the same school that Olga will go to and will even ride the same bus to school. I am hoping to be able to introduce her to that girl very soon. It will be so good for Olga to know a few girls her age before she has to jump into a huge American school!
Olga is very excited to go to church tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it has more to do with seeing her friends she made over the summer than going to hear the word of God, but that is okay for now. Then in the afternoon one of the friends she is so excited to see will be having a birthday party that we get to go to! Olga is really soaking all of this in and is so, so happy to be here.
And that has been our week so far. Nothing too exciting. Just so very happy to have our girl home.
Will update again soon!
S~
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Home for Christmas
Olga arrived last night safe and sound. She was exhausted after 24+ hours of travel but very happy to see us all. It took two hours for her group to clear customs so we didn't get home until close to 10:00. She has very quickly settled back into "family life" and is sitting comfortably on the sofa playing Mario Kart. :)
I will update the blog throughout her stay. We are looking forward to our first Christmas together as a family of five!
S~
I will update the blog throughout her stay. We are looking forward to our first Christmas together as a family of five!
S~
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Another Big Step Forward
I am so excited that I finally get to post this: We have our travel date! We received an e-mail from our agent this morning that our first appointment with the SDA is January 31. We are so excited to finally know when we will be able to go to our beautiful daughter's country to officially begin the adoption process. Hard to believe that it still isn't official in the eyes of her government that we want to adopt her, yet here we are. :)
Olga is scheduled to arrive for Christmas hosting in just a few short days. Four days, to be precise. She will be here until January 15, 2011. Jeff and I will spend the two weeks after she leaves getting ourselves ready to travel for an extended period of time. We are incredibly blessed that my mom has volunteered to take care of our two youngest kids while we are gone. Okay, she didn't exactly volunteer so much as agree when I told her she would be watching them, but who's keeping track of details like that?
Thanks to everyone for waiting along with us as we waited for word of our travel date. It won't be long now before I am blogging about our adventures on the other side of the world. :)
S~
Olga is scheduled to arrive for Christmas hosting in just a few short days. Four days, to be precise. She will be here until January 15, 2011. Jeff and I will spend the two weeks after she leaves getting ourselves ready to travel for an extended period of time. We are incredibly blessed that my mom has volunteered to take care of our two youngest kids while we are gone. Okay, she didn't exactly volunteer so much as agree when I told her she would be watching them, but who's keeping track of details like that?
Thanks to everyone for waiting along with us as we waited for word of our travel date. It won't be long now before I am blogging about our adventures on the other side of the world. :)
S~
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Still Waiting...
We have not heard anything about our SDA appointment, nor do we expect to for at least another week or two. We are just nervously patiently waiting to be notified.
In the meantime we have been busy getting ready for Olga's arrival for the Christmas hosting. Our oldest girl arrives in 11 days! Yippee! When Olga came this summer we had her stay in the "guest room/storage area". Of course, we got the room pretty much cleaned out before she arrived, but it was still a guest room. We had a nice futon (chocolate brown color) from IKEA along with a desk and two bookcase/dresser/storage units. Like I said, nice for a guest room. Our son really, really wanted the futon in his room so we have played "switch-a-roo" with the bedroom furniture. Now Olga has a queen sized bed in her room and thanks to a very generous donation marked specifically for Christmas spending I was able to buy a comforter set appropriate for a 15 year old girl. When I received the donation in the mail I contacted the donor to let them know what I would like to use it for (fixing up Olga's room vs. buying Christmas gifts) and they were very pleased the money could be used in that way. I explained to them that I had really been wanting to give Olga the kind of bedroom that she has never been able to have, but with all of the other "mandatory" expenses redecorating just wasn't very high on the priority list. Now we are off to a great start! I was able to get the comforter set on clearance so there is still quite a bit leftover for new paint (the walls are currently beige and a muted green) and some girly chachka-y things.
Hopefully I will have something exciting to report regarding our SDA appointment before Olga arrives for Christmas. I will, of course, post our travel dates when I get them!
S~
In the meantime we have been busy getting ready for Olga's arrival for the Christmas hosting. Our oldest girl arrives in 11 days! Yippee! When Olga came this summer we had her stay in the "guest room/storage area". Of course, we got the room pretty much cleaned out before she arrived, but it was still a guest room. We had a nice futon (chocolate brown color) from IKEA along with a desk and two bookcase/dresser/storage units. Like I said, nice for a guest room. Our son really, really wanted the futon in his room so we have played "switch-a-roo" with the bedroom furniture. Now Olga has a queen sized bed in her room and thanks to a very generous donation marked specifically for Christmas spending I was able to buy a comforter set appropriate for a 15 year old girl. When I received the donation in the mail I contacted the donor to let them know what I would like to use it for (fixing up Olga's room vs. buying Christmas gifts) and they were very pleased the money could be used in that way. I explained to them that I had really been wanting to give Olga the kind of bedroom that she has never been able to have, but with all of the other "mandatory" expenses redecorating just wasn't very high on the priority list. Now we are off to a great start! I was able to get the comforter set on clearance so there is still quite a bit leftover for new paint (the walls are currently beige and a muted green) and some girly chachka-y things.
Hopefully I will have something exciting to report regarding our SDA appointment before Olga arrives for Christmas. I will, of course, post our travel dates when I get them!
S~
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